I Lost Her
by mockinjay14
Summary: My nightmares are usually about losing you. I'm okay once I realize you're here. This is Peeta's story during Catching Fire, and the second book in the 'Games' trilogy. I don't own The Hunger Games or any of it's characters.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Peeta!" I hear the familiar voice scream. I start running. I reach the dark haired, silvered eyed girl just as the sword is pulled out of her stomach.

"Katniss," I whisper.

I grab the large boy who holds the sword and kill him with my hands. I turn now, to Katniss, all the color in her olive skin is gone. I kneel before her, and pull her toward me. I search for any signs of life, but find none. "No," I whisper. "I lost her."

My eyes snap open. It was a bad dream. I rub my eyelids. I've loved the girl in that dream since I was five. One the first day of school, she sang a song for the class, and I knew I was in love. When we were eleven, just after her father died in a mine accident, I gave her some bread, because she was starving. Then, almost a year ago, we were both chosen to compete in a fight to the death called The Hunger Games.

We both won, although, we weren't aloud to. We were going to eat a poisonous berry called nightlock, because only one of us could win. I thought we were in love. On the train back to District Twelve, where we live, Katniss told me she didn't really care for me, and it was just a survival strategy for the Games. A way to get sponsors. That day I told myself I wouldn't play the game Katniss was playing.

I stand up and take a shower. Because I won the Games, I got to move into a house in the Victor's Village. The section of District Twelve was just for it's victors. But there are only three living victors form District Twelve. Me, Katniss, and our mentor, Haymitch, who won the second Quarter Qwell, a special Hunger Games that happens every twenty five years.

I dry myself off and get dressed. Then, I go into the kitchen to bake some bread. My parents own a bakery in town, before the Games, I worked there and so, I know how to make all the recipes. Maybe, I'll go into town today, to visit my family. If my mother isn't around.

My mother has always been cruel to my brothers and I. But, I was her least favorite. Even after I won the Games, and became one of the richest people in District Twelve, she didn't treat me the way a mother should.

Once I'm done baking, I put my coat on and walk into town. I walk to the back door of the bakery and look to my side. There stands a tree, the same tree Katniss sat under years ago. The day I gave her the bread. But any memory I have of Katniss upsets me, because of what she did in the Games.

I open the back door and enter the place I used to spend most of my time in. I smell bread and other goods as soon as I open the door.

"Son," I hear my Dad's voice. "What are you doing here today?"

I frown. "Why? Do you not want me here?"

My Dad laughs. "Or course I want you here, son, I just didn't think you'd come today. With the Victory Tour starting and all," he says.

The Victory Tour. I've completely forgotten about it. Starting today, we will be taken on a tour through Panem. To visit each district. We'll probably have to pretend to be in love again. Not that it was ever fake for me.

I sigh. "I forgot the tour started today, Dad. And it doesn't start until later. We could visit, if you'd like." I say.

I look up to meet my father's eyes. "I'd like that," he says. We go upstairs to my old bedroom.

"So, how's your leg doing?" my dad asks, after sitting on my old bed. My leg, it was injured in The Hunger Games by a boy from District Two. Katniss risked her life to get medicine to heal it. But then a muttation bit my leg, and when I won the Games the doctors decided it would be better for me if they took it off. I now have a metal leg in it's place. It took some getting used to, but it's starting to get easier to walk.

"It's find Dad. I'm still getting used to it, though." I say.

"That's good, what about... that girl?" he asks.

I close my eyes. "She's doing good. I wouldn't be happy with any one else."

I never told my family her feelings for me were fake. They know my feelings are real. And my brothers, Rye and Graham would never let me forget about it. But I don't want to forget.

"Do you want to come over for dinner, the night you get back form the Victory Tour?" he asks.

I smile, I will need something to distract myself with when the Tours over. "All right." I say. My dad smiles. "I've got to go, I need to check on Haymitch."

"All right. Goodbye son." he says.

I walk to the door. "Bye. I'll see you," I say and walk back to the Victor's Village.

I take the bread from my house, and walk to Haymitch's house. Once I get there, I can hear Haymitch talking to someone. I open the door.

"Look, if you wanted to be babied, you should have asked Peeta." says Katniss, who is perched on the windowsill. I wince, I don't want to be near Katniss, but maybe I should speak with her before we have to go back to being the 'star-crossed lovers from District Twelve'.

"Asked me what?" I ask and set the loaf of bread on the table. I hold my hand out to Haymitch, so he'll give me his knife, I notice he's all wet.

"Asked you to wake me up without giving me pneumonia," says Haymitch as he hands me his knife. I smile. Katniss must have woke him up by throwing water on him, or something.

I clean Haymitch's knife the best I can, and slice the loaf of bread. I look at Katniss. She looks healthy, and well fed, unlike how she looked most of his life. "Would you like a piece?" I ask her.

"No, I ate at the Hob," says Katniss in that same voice she's used for me since all the cameras went back to the Capitol. "But thank you." she adds in the same tone. I wish she'd talk to be like back in the arena.

"You're welcome," I say.

"Brr. You two have a lot of warming up to do before showtime." says Haymitch.

Katniss rolls her eyes. "Take a bath, Haymitch." says Katniss as she swings her legs out the window and drops to the ground.

"I just did," says Haymitch.

I laugh and head back home to paint Katniss in the windowsill.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I finish the painting of Katniss just as I hear a knock on my door. I put the painting away and open the door.

I'm greeted by my prep team, and Porita, my stylist. And I can hear my escort, Effie Trinket shouting excitedly somewhere outside the Victor's Village. I move out of the way to let everyone in. They make themselves at home tossing handbags onto my furniture.

The prep team clean all non existing dirt off me while applying more makeup to themselves. They talk about their lives in the Capitol. They talk about how exciting it is for me because my first year or mentoring will be a Quarter Quell. I'm not sure why I should be excited about that though. Soon, my prep team are done and Portia is helping me into my cloths.

Effie comes in with a camera crew. She runs over to hug me. "Peeta, do you have all your paintings set up like I asked?" she says in her ridiculous Capitol accent. The camera crew, I think are going to get footage of my paintings to show the Capitol my hobby. I think Katniss's hobby is fashion designing, not that she would do anything like that. Her stylist, Cinna, did all the work. He's a good friend of Katniss's. Haymitch and I had a blast imagining Katniss designing cloths out of squirrel pelts.

"Yes, Effie. There in my painting room." I say.

Effie nods. "Perfect, Peeta, if you'll lead us to your painting room,"

"Right this way," I say, and walk to the room. I made sure to hide the painting of Katniss on the windowsill, because I don't want everyone today.

The camera crew get footage of my paintings and even a clip of me talking about them.

Effie claps her hand. "All right, Peeta we're going to get footage of Katniss and we'll start the tour." She waves the camera crew out the door and they head to Katniss's house.

Portia and I look at the window, to wait for Katniss to come out the door. As time goes by, a large amount of cameras are placed outside. We're going to be filmed as we walk out of our houses and meet each other to start the trip. I collect some of my paintings, to take on the tour. So I can look at my nightmares before I go to sleep, and, I want to show Katniss.

I watch out the window, as Katniss is literally pushed out of her house by Effie, I chuckle, and walk to the door. I look back to Portia, she nods. I open the door and start walking toward Katniss.

She starts running towards me. I guess we are the star-crossed lovers again. I catch her and spin her around but, I lose my balance and slip. She lands on top of me, and we kiss. And for a moment I let her fool me again. It's just a survival strategy. I tell myself. It's just a game.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I lay in my bed on the train, headed for District Eleven, our first stop on the Victory Tour. After they finished filming the first shot of the tour, we went to the Train Station, my family showed up to say goodbye. Even my mother. But, I dismissed her behavior, as a chance to be on TV. Once we get on the train, we ate dinner. Just like how we did before, in the Capitol. And then we went to our rooms.

I close my eyes and sleep for several hours. When I wake up, I immediately go to breakfast. Katniss and Haymitch are the only ones that don't seem excited. Cinna, Portia, Effie, and I try to bring them into conversations.

The train stops and we are told that a part on the train malfunctioned and needs to be replaced. I roll my eyes, the sooner we get to District Eleven, the sooner the whole tour will be over. Effie pulls out her schedule and starts figuring out how the delay will affect the rest of the tour.

"No one cares, Effie!" Kantniss snaps. I turn my head to look at her, she must realize she did something wrong, because she starts defending herself. "Well, no one does!" She exits the train.

I finish my breakfast and look around. Everyone resumed their conversations, and it doesn't look like anyone is going to get Katniss, so I exit the train. I have to talk to her at some point. I find her sitting on the ground, only a few yards from the train. She must hear my footsteps as I walk toward her.

"I'm not in the mood for a lecture," she says, her back still turned to me.

"I'll try to keep it brief." I say and sit next to her.

Katniss sighs. "I thought you were Haymitch,"

I smile. "No, he's still working on that muffin." I try to position my artificial leg. "Bad day, huh?"

Katniss rests her head on her knees. "It's nothing," she says. I look at her, I guess I was kind of mean that day I found out about Katniss's survival strategies. I quickly apologize. "I'm sorry, too," she says, surprising me.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about. You were trying to keep us alive. But I don't want us to go on like this, ignoring each other in real life and falling into the snow every time there's a camera around. So I thought if I stopped being so, you know, wounded, we could take a shot at just being friends." I say.

Katniss looks at me, and for a moment, I'm afraid Katniss doesn't even want to be my friend. "Okay." she says.

I smile. "So what's wrong?" I ask.

Katniss stays silent. Maybe she doesn't feel like she knows enough about me. I realize I don't know a lot about Katniss.

"Let's start with something more basic. Isn't it strange that I know you'd risk your life to save mine... but I don't know what your favorite color is?" I say.

I watch Katniss smile. "Green. What's yours?" she says.

I nod. "Orange."

"Orange?" she asks. "Like Effie's hair?"

Effie's new wig is orange. "A bit more muted," I say looking at Katniss. "More like... sunset."

Katniss nods. "You know, everyone's always raving about your paintings. I feel bad I haven't seen them,"

I just brought paintings of the Games. I offer to show Katniss my paintings and we head back into the train. Katniss stops when we reach the train.

"I've got to apologize to Effie first." she says.

"Don't be afraid to lay it on thick," I say.

When she finishes, I take Katniss to see them. Katniss looks at each painting.

"What do you think?" I ask.

"I hate them," she says. I get the feeling she enjoys hurting my feelings. "All I do is go around trying to forget the arena and you've brought it back to life. How do you remember these things so exactly?" she says.

I breath out. "I see them every night," I say quietly.  
Katniss looks like she understands. "Me too. Does it help? To paint them out?" she asks. I feel a little bit better about what Katniss said about my paintings. Even though she sounded a lot like my mother.

"I don't know. I think I'm a little less afraid of going to sleep at night, or I tell myself I am. But they haven't gone anywhere." I say.

Katniss nods. "Maybe they won't Haymitch's haven't." she says.

"No. But for me, it's better to wake up with a paint brush than a knife in my hand." I say. I look at my paintings. I didn't think they were that bad. I frown, I showed these to the Capitol. "So you really hate them?" I ask.

Katniss sighs. "Yes. But they're extraordinary. Really," she says. I feel a lot better about myself now. "Want to see my talent? Cinna did a great job at it." she says.

I laugh. "Later." The train starts to move. "Com on, we're almost to District Elven. Let's go take a look at it."

We go to the last car on the train because there are huge windows, that make you feel like your outside. The train slows down, we're now enclosed in District Elven. I say enclosed, because to both my sides, I spot a fence. Not like the one in District Twelve, that's almost never charged with electricity. It's at least thirty feet in the air, and is topped with barbed wire. And then, as is if the fences aren't enough, there are watch towers separated evenly with armed guards inside.

"That's something different." I say.

Katniss just stares blankly out the window. And then, begins the rows of crops. With adults, and even children working in the hot sun. I frown. "How many people do you think live here?" I ask. Katniss shakes her head. Effie comes in to tell us to get dressed.

Once we're both dressed, Effie tells us exactly how this stop of the tour will play out, once we get to the station, we're greeted with Peacekeepers as they shove all of us into the back of a armored truck. I look at Effie as the doors are slammed behind us.

"Really, you'd think we were all criminals," she says.

We're let into the back of the Justice Building, and pushed to the front entrance as the anthem starts. "Big smiles!" says Effie as she nudges us. We move forward.

The town square is packed with people, more people on District Twelve Reapings. But I've got the feeling, that not everyone in the district is here.

I look right at the sections for the families of the fallen tributes. Rue, the little girl, who was Katniss's first ally in the Games. And Thresh, the huge male tribute who let Katniss go at the feast. I know I owe them. For helping Katniss. And I know I owe their families who had to accept their kids death.

The mayor gives a speech in our honor. And I quickly recited a scripted reply. And Katniss concludes it. All I can think about are Thresh and Rue. I add my thoughts, how they kept Katniss alive, keeping me alive, and how I'll never be able to repay that. An idea forms in my head, I hesitate to speak it. Then I see Rue and Thresh's pictures.

"It can in no way replace your losses, but as a token of our thoughts we'd like for each of the tributes' families from District Eleven to receive one month of our winnings every year for the duration of our lives." I say.

Katniss looks at me. I smile sadly. Katniss gets on her tip toes to give me a kiss. The mayor presents us with a plaque.

I notice Katniss looking straight at Rue's family. She tilts her head, and I'm sure she can see Rue in at least one of them.

"Wait!" she says as she stumbles forward. "Wait, please." Katniss takes in a deep breath. "I want to give my thanks to the tributes of District Elven. I only ever spoke to Thresh one time. Just long enough for him to spare my life. I didn't know him, but I always respected him. For his power. For his refusal to play the Games on anyone's terms but his own. The carriers wanted to team up with him from the beginning, but he wouldn't do it. I respected him for that."

Katniss pauses. I smile. She really did care about Thresh and Rue.

"But I feel as though I did know Rue, and she'll always be with me. Everything beautiful brings her to mind. I see her in the yellow flowers that grow in the Meadow by my house. I see her in the Mockingjays that sing in the trees. But most of all, I see her in my sister, Prim. Thank you for your children. And thank you for the bread." she says.

The crowd is silent, then someone whistles. I think it's the same whistle Rue and Katniss used in the Games.

Then everyone in the crowd presses their tree middle fingers on their left hand to their lips, and extend them to Katniss. In District Twelve, it's our sign for goodbye.

The mayor takes over, and I lead Katniss back inside the Justice Building. Katniss is acting wired.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

Katniss nods. "Just dizzy. The sun was so bright," she frowns. "I forgot my flowers."

"I'll get them," I say.

She shakes her head. "I can," she says. I come with her, because she said she was dizzy.

We stop when we see the man who whistled, drug up stairs by Peacekeepers. And right where Katniss and I had stood, just a minute before the man is shot through his head with a bullet.

Peacekeepers block our view as the man tumbles to the ground. They push us back toward the doors.

"We're going!" I say shoving a Peacekeeper who was pushing Katniss. "We get it, all right? Come on, Katniss." I say, putting my arm around her protectively.

"What happened?" Effie asks, hurring over to us, once were inside. "We lost the feed just after Katniss's beautiful speech, and the Haymitch said he thought he heard a gun fire, and I said it was ridiculous, but who knows? There are lunatics everywhere!"

But she doesn't need to know a man just died.

"Nothing happened, Effie. An old truck backfired." I say. Two more shots go off.

"Both of you. With me," says Haymitch, and we follow him. Haymitch leads us to a room far into the maze that is the District Eleven Justice Building. I'm surprised he would know where he is. Since the last time he must have been here, was on his Victory Tour. It looks like the room has not been entered for years. With rusty weapons and dirt.

"What happened?" he asks. I tell him everything from the whistle to when the man was shot. Then I ask him what's going on. "It will be better coming from you," Haymitch tells Katniss. I frown and look at her.

She sighs. "President Snow came to visit me, yesterday," she says. I raise my eyebrow. "He told me there was an unrest in the districts. Because the berries. Some of the people in the districts think that if one girl can defy the Capitol and walk away unharmed, then they should defy the Capitol too." Katniss bites her lip. "So we need to convince the districts that I just did the berry thing because I love you. President Snow told me to convince him, only, he knows that Gale and I kissed." she pauses. I wish she would have left that part out of the story. "And if we don't calm the districts down, he'll kill my family, and... who know who else. The whole country- are whole world- is in danger."

Katniss starts panting. "I was supposed to fix things on this tour. Make everyone who had doubted believe I acted out of love. Calm things down. But obvious, all I've done today is get three people killed, and now everyone in the square will be punished." she says and sits down on a sofa.

"Then I made things worse, too. By giving the money." I say. I never think before I say things. It's not my fault though, I was thinking about Rue. It's not like I knew there was an uprisings. I wasn't told. And Haymitch knew about President Snow visit. There playing the same game from the arena. To plan things and leave me out.

I take my frustration out by knocking a lamp across the room. "This has to stop. Right now. This- this- game you two play, where you tell each other secrets but keep them from me like I'm too inconsequential or stupid or weak to handle them." I say, finally speaking what I'd been feeling since the ride back after the Games.

"It's not like that, Peeta-" Katniss starts.

"It's exactly like that!" I yell. "I have people I care about too, Katniss! Family and friends back in District Twelve who will be just as dead as yours if we don't pull this thing off. So, after all we went through in the arena, don't I even rate the truth from you?" I ask.

Katniss closes her eyes.

"You're always so reliably good, Peeta." Haymitch says. "So smart about how you present yourself before the cameras. I didn't want to disrupt that."

"Well, you overestimated me. Because I really screwed up today. What do you think is going to happen to Rue's and Thresh's families? Do you think they'll get their share of our winnings? Do you think I gave them a bright future? Because I think they'll be lucky if they survive the day!" I say.

Now their families will be killed. I'm sure that would pay Rue and Thresh back for saving my life! I throw a statue across the room.

"He's right, Haymitch," says Katniss. I look up. "We were wrong not to tell him. Even back in the Capitol."

"Even in the arena," I say. "You two had some sort of system worked out, didn't you? Something I wasn't part of."

Katniss looks at my eyes. "No. Not officially. I just could tell what Haymitch wanted me to do by what he sent, or didn't send." she says.

I shake my head, suddenly upset that I didn't get one sponsor before it was announced two tributes would win if they were from the same district. "Well, I never had that opportunity. Because he never sent me anything until you showed up." I say.

"Look, boy-" he starts.

"Don't bother, Haymitch. I know you had to choose one of us. And I'd have wanted it to be her. But this is something different, people are dead out there. More will follow unless we're very good. We all know I'm better than Katniss in front on the cameras. No one needs to coach me on what to say. But I have to know what I'm walking into," I say.

"From now on, you'll be fully informed." says Haymitch.

"I better be." I say and leave without looking back.

We are preped for dinner. Haymitch tells me I was wrong to yell at Katniss. Because I have kept my love for her a secret, until I decided to tell everyone in Panem. We get together go to dinner. Effie arrives looking distressed.

She reads the schedule. "And then, thank goodness, we can all get on the train and get out of here." she says. Cinna asks her what's wrong. "I don't like the way we've been treated. Being stuffed into trucks and barred from the platform. And then, about an hour ago, I decided to look around the Justice Building. I'm something of an expert on architectural design, you know," she says.

I nod my head, but everyone stays silent. A moment passes. "Oh, yes, I've heard that," Portia finally says.

Effie nods and continues. "So, I was just having a peek around because district ruins are going to be all the rage this year, when two Peacekeepers showed me up and ordered me back to our quarters. One of them actually poked me with her gun!"

I do feel bad for Effie. She doesn't know about all the tension on this tour. Katniss must feel bad for her too, because she gives Effie a hug and says "That's awful, Effie. Maybe we shouldn't go to dinner at all. At least until they've apologized."

Effie brightens up quickly. "No. I'll manage. It's part of my job to weather the ups and downs. And we can't let you two miss your dinner." Katniss almost smiles. "But thank you for the offer, Katniss." she adds.

We get into formation to enter, with the help of Effie. Katniss and I end up holding hands.

"Haymitch says I was wrong to yell at you. You were only operating under his instructions." I say. Katniss looks at me. "And it isn't as if I haven't kept things from you in the past."

Katniss laughs under her breath. "I think I broke a few things myself after that interview." she says. I remember her pushing me into an urn in the Training Center, it shattered beneath me and injured my hand.

I nod. "Just an urn,"

Katniss rolls her eyes. "And your hands. There's no point to it anymore, though, is there? Not being straight with each other?" she says.

"No point." I say.

I wait with Katniss at the top of the steps, waiting until Haymitch makes it down fifteen steps. Like Effie told us to.

"Was that really the only time you kissed Gale?" I ask.

Katniss looks startled. "Yes." she says.

I let out a breath. "That's fifteen. Let's do it." We start down the stair case, a light is on us.

Time on the Victory Tour starts to go almost too quickly. Everyday has the same schedule. We wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed, ride through the district, listen to a speech about us, give a thank you speech. We only give speeches the Capitol wrote for us, now. districts Eight, and Five and hard for me, because I killed the girl tributes. Sometimes we get tours of the district, like the forest in Seven, or the sea in District Four. We dress in evening cloths, go to dinner, and get on the train.

We're all getting worried about Katniss. She hasn't been sleeping well. It's gotten so bad, tonight, Effie offered Katniss some sleeping pills. They seem to work because I don't hear Katniss. I'm still wondering around the train.

I hear Katniss's screams. I do my best to ignore them. They're just nightmares. She'll wake up soon. After several minutes, I remember Katniss took those pills. Maybe she can't wake up. I go to her room and manage to wake her up.

She's covered in sweat and tears. I pull her into my arms and try to calm her down. I look at her she still looks terrified. I don't think I'd get much sleep if I left her, now. I climb into her bed and hold her. We fall asleep quick.

After that, Katniss doesn't except the sleeping pills. And I go into her room at night. She seems to get more sleep now. By the time we get to districts One and Two, I'm ready to go back home. It's hard for me, all of these tributes were my allies. Cato and Clove from Two. And Marvel and Glimmer from One. They were the meanest tributes. And Cato is the one who hurt my leg. But I still got to know them.

We reach the Capitol. We're desperate to fix the mess in the districts. We make many appearances to the people in the Capitol. Even though, there could never be an uprising in the Capitol. They don't understand how bad some of the conditions in some of the districts are. Everything we do now, seems like we're doing it too late.

We get to our old quarters in the Training Center. Haymitch, Katniss, and I sit on the sofa and stare at the blank TV.

"I don't think we convinced them," says Haymitch.

I run my fingers through my hair. "So what do we do?" I ask.

Katniss bites her lip. "We could get married,"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I study the floor.

"It would definitely say something," says Haymitch.

Marry Katniss? It's my widest dream come true, only, it's fake.

"I'll do it," I say and go to my room.

A fake marriage to Katniss Everdeen.

I sit on my bed and fall asleep.

That night at the interviews, I'm not paying attention to anything Caesar says. And I don't speak much. I'm planning out what I should say.

All too soon, Caesar's asking us what the future will hold for us. I let out a breath and get down on one knee. I pour my heart our and Katniss excepts. President Snow congratulates us. And I wonder if he planed on this happening.

"What do you think about us throwing them a wedding right here in the Capitol?" says President Snow.

"Do you have a date in mind?" asks Caesar.

"Oh, before we set a date, we better clear it with Katniss's mother." says President Snow. The whole audience starts laughing. "Maybe if the whole country puts it's mind to it, we can get you married before you're thirty." says the President.

"You'll probably, have to pass a new law," says Katniss.

"If that's what it takes," says the President.

Katniss smiles.

We are transported to President Snow's mansion. The party is held in his banquet room. The first thing I notice is all the food.

"I want to taste everything in this room." she says.

"Then you'd better pace yourself," I say.

Katniss nods. "Okay, no more than one bite of each dish,"

Capitol guests greet us. Asking for our pictures. Some guests show Katniss their mockingjay pin accessoreies. In the arena, Katniss wore a pin of a bird called a mockingjay, she wore it during most of the Victory Tour, but not today.

I watch Katniss eat all the food, and I can tell Katniss is getting full.

Katniss's prep team greets us. I roll my eyes at them.

"Why aren't you eating?" says the green woman.

Katniss sighs. "I have been, but I can't hold another bite."

The prep team start laughing. "No one let's that stop them!" says the man with the purple lipstick. They lead us to a table holding wine glasses filled with clear liquid. "Drink this!"

I pick one up and bring it to my lips.

"Not here!" says the green one.

"You have to do it in there," says the woman with gold tattoos, pointing to the bathrooms. "Or you'll get it all over the floor!"

I look at the glass. "You mean this will make me puke?" I say.

They start laughing. "Of course, so you can keep eating. I've been in there twice already. Everyone does it, or else how would you have any fun at a feast."

I look at Katniss. She stares at the glasses. She couldn't be considering them? I put the glass down. "Come on, Katniss, let's dance." I say and pull her to the dance floor, far away from those glasses.

There playing slow songs, so I pull her close and we dance. We're both quiet. I don't think she was considering the drink. She starved most of her life. She would never waste food. I start to hate the Capitol people. Here they are, throwing up food, so they can eat more, while people back in the districts, like... Gale, are working hard to earn food.

I look at Katniss. "You go along, thinking you can deal with it, thinking maybe they're not so bad, and then you-" I cut myself off, realizing how close all these Capitol people are to us.

"Peeta, they bring us here to fight to the death for their entertainment." Katniss looks around. "Really, it's nothing in comparison."

"I know. I know that. It's just sometimes I can't stand it anymore. To the point where... I'm not sure what I'll do." I realize what I'm saying. Maybe we shouldn't stop this rebellion, maybe we need to stop the Capitol. People are willing to fight. "Maybe we were wrong, Katniss." I whisper.

She looks up. "About what?"

I look around. "About trying to subdue things in the districts," I say. Katniss's reaction makes me stop considering this as an option. "Sorry."

"Save it for home." she says.

Portia joins us with a large man. "This is Plutarch Heavensbee, the new Head Gamemaker." she says. New Head Gamemaker? We would we need a new one? I realize President Snow killed the old Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane. He's the one who let our stunt with the berries slide.

"Can I steal Katniss for a dance?" says Plutarch.

I pass Katniss over. "Just don't get too attached," I say, and head to the tables to look at cakes.

I should have killed myself in the arena. There's only one victor. If I had died, like I planed to do at the Reaping, Katniss would be there victor, and no one's lives would be at risk, and a lot of people would still be breathing.

I ask the bakers if I could take some cakes home to examine myself, so they get the cakes ready. Katniss appears next to me.

"Effie said we have to be on the train at once. I wonder what time it is." I say still depressed about my thoughts.

"Almost midnight," she says taking a chocolate flower from a cake.

"Time to say thank you and farewell!" says Effie.

We find Cinna and Portia and say goodbye to important people. We're at the door.

"Shouldn't we thank President Snow? It's his house." I say.

Effie smiles at my manners. "Oh, he's not a big one for parties. Too busy, I've already arranged for the necessary notes and gifts to be sent to him tomorrow. There you are!" Effie notices the Capitol attendants holding up Haymitch.

We travel through the Capitol in a car, the prep teams, behind us in another car. We get back to the Train Station. Haymitch is taken to his room, and Cinna orders us tea.

Effie reminds us we're still on tour. "There's the Harvest Festival in District Twelve to think about. So I suggest we drink our tea and head straight to bed."

I try sleeping in my own room. But I'm having nightmares, so I go to Katniss's room, climb into her bed, careful not to wake her. I put my arms around her and fall asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I wake up. I can't sleep anymore, and I can't move, or I might wake Katniss up. I lay there for hours, thinking about last night, if only we didn't have so much to lose, I'd start an uprising right now.

Katniss has her back turned to me. I feel her start to wake up. She turns carefully, like she thinks I'm asleep. "No nightmares," I say. Katniss hadn't had any nightmares last night.

"What?" she asks with a yawn.

"You didn't have any nightmares last night," I say.

Katniss nods. "I had a dream though," she says as if dreaming is a rare occurrence for her. Maybe it is. "I was following a mockingjay through the woods. For a long time. It was Rue, really. I mean, when it sang, it had her voice." she says.

"Where did she take you?" I ask and brush some hair from her forehead.

"I don't know. We never arrived," she says. "But I felt happy."

I smile. "Well, you slept like you were happy."

"Peeta, how come I never know when you're having a nightmare?" she says.

"I don't know. I don't think I cry out or thrash around or anything. I just come to, paralyzed with terror." I say.

"You should wake me," she says.

I shake my head. "It's not necessary. My nightmares are usually about losing you." I say. "I'm okay once I realize you're here." I frown. "Be worse when we're home and I'm sleeping alone again." I say remembering we're almost back in District Twelve. This time, instead of dinner in the Justice Building, dinner will be held in Mayor Undersee's house.

After the dinner, I say goodbye to Madge, the mayor's daughter and head back to my home. I change into more comfortable cloths, and go to the kitchen to bake. That's when I remember I promised my dad, I'd come over for dinner. I pull my coat and boots on and head towards the bakery.

As I walk, I find a figure heading into the Victor's Village. I get closer and realize it's Katniss. There's mud on her boots, meaning she must have been in the woods. I don't think it's a good idea for her to go out there anymore. With the tension in the districts. "Been hunting?" I ask.

Katniss looks at the snow. "Not really. Going into town?"

I nod. "Yes. I'm supposed to eat dinner with my family,"

Katniss lets out a breath. "Well, I can at least walk you in."

We walk.

"Peeta, if I asked you to run away from the district with me, would you?" she blurts out.

I stop walking and grab her arm to stop her. "Depends on why you're asking." I say.

Katniss frowns. "President Snow wasn't convinced by me. There's an uprising in District Eight. We have to get out,"

"By 'we' do you mean just you and me? No. Who else would be going?" I ask.

"My family. Yours, if they want to come. Haymitch maybe," she says.

"What about Gale?" I ask.

"I don't know. He might have other plans," she says. Did she already ask him to go? That must be why she was in the woods. Other plans? Does Gale want to help with this uprising?

I smile. "I bet he does. Sure, Katniss, I'll go."

Katniss's face lights up. "You will?"

I nod my head. I would go with Katniss. Only, it's not like Katniss to run away from something like this. She's a lot like Gale. "Yeah. But I don't think for a minute you will," I say.

Katniss's face turns cold, and she jerks her arm away from me. "Then you don't know me. Be ready. It could be anytime." Katniss takes off walking to quick for me to catch up to her on this prosthetic leg.

"Katniss," I say, but she doesn't slow down. "Katniss, hold up." I say. She stops kicking some snow from the path. I catch up to her.

"I really will go, if you want me to I just think we better talk it through with Haymitch. Make sure we wont be making things worse for everyone." I can't imagine what President Snow would do if three victors, and their loved ones disappeared.

I notice the sound of something swinging through the air and hitting something. I look up. "What's that?" I ask. I find a large crowed of people. Somethings happening. "Come on," I say putting my arm protectively around Katniss.

Once we get to the square, the crowed is still too large to see what's happening. I step up on a crate against a wall and offer Katniss my hand. I scan the square.

I find a wooden post, where Gale is tied, a turkey hangs above him and his shirt is torn off. He's unconscious, on his knees, and his back is torn up. A tall Peacekeeper, I haven't seen before stands in front of Gale, whip in his hand. My eyes widen as the whip slices through the air and strikes Gale.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I block Katniss's way, so she can't stand on the crate. "Get down. Get out of here!" I whisper. Katniss tries to force her way back up. "What?"

"Go home, Katniss! I'll be there in a minute, I swear!" I say.

Katniss yanks her hand away from me and starts to push her way through the crowd. I swear under my breath and climb down. By the time I get down, I can't find her.

I search the crowd. I hear feet shuffling where Gale must be. "No!" I hear Katniss cry, and then the sound of the whip flying through the air. The crowd gasps. "Stop it! You'll kill him!" I hear Katniss shriek, clearly in pain. That's when I start shoving my way through the crowd.

"Hold it!" yells Haymitch. How did he get here? I start pushing people now. One man even falls to his side. Once I get to the front, I see Haymitch holding Katniss up. Blood runs down her face. I curl my fingers into fist and approach them.

"He was poaching. What business is it of hers, anyway?" says the Peacekeeper.

"He's her cousin." I say with my arm around her other side now. "And she's my _fiancée_. So if you want to get to him, expect to go through both of us."

Another Peacekeeper, one I've seen before steps forward. "I believe, for a first offense, the required number of lashes has been dispensed, six unless your sentence is death, which we would carry out my firing squad."

"Is that the standard protocol here?" the Peacekeeper asks.

"Yes, sir." she says. Some of the other Peacekeepers nod in agreement.

"Very well. Get your cousin out of here, then, girl. And if he comes to, remind him that the next time he poaches off the Capitol's land, I'll assemble that firing squad personally." he says, then he whipes his hand along the wipe, splattering us with blood, he coils it and walks off.

The other Peacekeepers follow behind him, while some stay and pick up another Peacekeeper named Darius, laying on the ground.

"Gale." says Katniss. She starts untying the knots, not making any progress. Someone hands me a knife. I look at it wondering what I'm supposed to do with it. When I realize why they handed it to me, I walk to Gale and cut the ropes. Gale collapses on the ground.

"Better get him to your mother," Haymitch tells Katniss.

A woman at the clothing stall sells us a bored she used as a counter top, so that we can use it like a stretcher for Gale.

We lay Gale face down on the bored, and there aren't many people to help carry him. As we carry Gale, a girl from the Seam, who looks around my age takes Katniss's arm. "Need help getting back?" she says. I remember now that Katniss was wiped too. But I hold tighter onto the bored holding Gale. I know how important he is to her. Even if he is competition.

"No, but can you get Hazelle? Send her over?" says Katniss.

Hazelle, I think, is Gale's mother.

"Yeah," says the girl, and heads off toward the Seam.

"Leavy!" Katniss calls and the girl turns around. I have to keep walking, to help get Gale there, so I don't hear what Katniss says. I hear Katniss running to catch up with us.

I sigh. Before the Reaping, I was probably hopeing something like this would happen to Gale. But now, I just feel bad about wishing this apon him. He's a nice person, and he's only eighteen, why should this have to happen to anyone? Things like this and what happened in District Eleven, make me want to start a rebellion. If Katniss wasn't trying to stop this, I'd be helping.

"Luckly he only had the turkey on him," says a man from the Seam. "If he'd had his usual haul, would've been much worse." I try to act like I'm not listening. "He told Thread he found it wondering around the Seam. Said it got over the fence and stabbed it with a stick. Still a crime. But if they'd known he'd been in the woods with weapons, they'd have killed him for sure," says another man from the Seam.

"What about Darius?" I ask wondering why he was unconscious.

"After about twenty lashes, he stepped in, saying that was enough. Only he didn't do it smart and official, like Purnia did. He grabbed Thread's arm and Thread hit him in the head with the butt of the whip. Nothing good waiting for him,"

"Doesn't sound like much good for any of us," says Haymitch.

It starts to snow, making it harder to see. Once we get inside Katniss's house, her mother looks worried, then she turns toward us and sees Gale. She puts her hand to her mouth.

"New Head," says Haymitch. Within moments her table is cleared, with Gale on and and she's working while ordering Prim around. I watch and I'm reminded of that time in the arena when Katniss was trying to heal my wound on my leg. Except Prim and her mom aren't doubting themselves.

Katniss's mother finally glances Katniss's way. I watch as her eyes widen. "Did it cut your eye?" That's when I remember Katniss is hurt. I feel bad that everyone, including myself are forgetting about everything but Gale. But, he was wiped a lot.

"No, it's just swelled shut," I hear Katniss say from behind me.

"Get more snow on it," he mom says.

"Can you save him?" Katniss asks. Her mother stays silent.

_I_nstead Haymitch answers. "Don't worry. Used to be a lot whippings before Cray. She's the one we took them to."

I watch as Mrs. Everdeen cleans Gale's back. I look at Katniss. She looks tired as she stands, helplessly, watching Gale. I decide to be useful, since no one else cares about Katniss. I put her in a chair and hold a cloth filled with snow to her cut.

"You two should head home," says Haymitch to the men from the Seam. He hands them some money. "Don't know what will happen with your crew," he says. They accept the money and leave.

Hazelle arrives. She goes right to her son and sits on a chair beside him. She takes Gale's hand and hold is against her lips. I can't imagine what it would be like to see my child like that. Katniss's mother doesn't acknowledge her. As the last bandage is placed on Gale, he lets out a moan. He mus be regaining consciousness.

I watch Katniss. Her mother decides to give Gale something to help with the pain.

"That won't be enough," says Katniss. Her mother stares at her. "That won't be enough, I know how it feels. That will barely knock out a headache."

"We'll combine it with sleep syrup, Katniss, and he'll manage it. The herbs are more for the inflammation-"

Katniss interrupt her mother. "Just give him the medicine! Give it to him! Who are you anyway, to decide how much pain he can stand!"

Gale starts to stir, trying to reach out to Katniss. The movement makes blood stain his bandages, and he lets out an agonized sound.

"Take her out," says Katniss's mother.

Haymitch and I stand and together we carry her out of the room, while she tries to get out of our grasps, and shouts at her mother. We pin he down on a bed in an extra room until she stops fighting.

While Katniss lays there crying, I tell Haymitch about the districts starting uprisings and Katniss wanting us to run away. Haymitch doesn't say anything though. Katniss's mother comes in, probably just now putting Katniss's face as a priority, which I understand. She treats her face and sits down next to Katniss and holds Katniss's hand and strokes her arm, while Haymitch explains what happened to Gale.

"So it's starting again? Like before?" her mother asks softly with the same frightened expression that I only see on Katniss's face while she's having nightmares.

"By the looks of it. Who'd have thought we'd ever be sorry to see old Cray go?" says Haymitch.

I don't remember a time when Cray wasn't around, but I'm guessing people ended up like Gale often. The doorbell rings. Who would be out at this time of the night? Peacekeepers? Maybe Thread decided Gale wasn't punished enough. I guess Katniss was having similar thoughts. "They can't have him." she says.

Haymitch laughs. "Might be you they're after," he says. Katniss did interrupt the Peacekeepers, whats the punishment for that? But she's a victor. I tell myself. A victor who caused uprisings. My eyes widen.

"Or you," says Katniss.

Haymitch laughs again. "Not my house. But I'll get the door."

Katniss's mother stands up. "No, I'll get it," she says. We follow her to the door.

When we open the door, we find Madge. The mayor's daughter. She hand a cardboard box to Katniss. "Use these for your friend." she tells Katniss. She takes the lid off. Inside the box are vials of clear liquid. "They're my mother's. She said I could take them. Use them, please." Madge says and runs back into the snow storm.

"Crazy girl." says Haymitch as we follow Katniss's mother into the kitchen. Gale looks like he's in a lot of pain, so I hope these work. Katniss's mother fills a syringe with the liquid and injects it into Gale's arm. He starts to relax.

"What's in that stuff?" I ask.

Katniss's mother looks up at me. "It's from the Capitol. It's called morphling," she says. If it's from the Capitol, why would Madge give it to Gale? "I didn't even know Madge knew Gale," I say.

Katniss looks at me then back at Gale. "We used to sell her strawberries," says Katniss angrily. Is she jealous? Of Gale and Madge?

"She must have quite a taste for them," says Haymitch.

Katniss turns her back to us completely to look at Gale. "She's my friend."

Haymitch laughs.

Katniss likes Gale.

Katniss's mother sends me and Haymitch home. Once I get home, I can only think about how Katniss acted when Madge left. If there's anything romantic going on between Katniss and Gale I don't think I have a chance. Even if she is my _fiancée. I don't sleep much. I start baking some bread. It's then that I remember that I was supposed to go to the bakery for dinner._

_ I run through the blizzard. I go through the back of the bakery, hoping my Dad forgot. My father stands there, already kneading the dough. "Dad," I say. He turns to face me, his eyes, wattering. "Dad, I was on my way over, last night, but then we saw Gale, and-" I start._

_ "No son, it's okay, I understand. That boy needed all the help he could get. Why don't you send a loaf of bread over for me." my Dad says. _

_ He hands me two loafs. "Alright, are you sure it's okay?" I say. _

_ My Dad nods. "Just go, son." _

_ I frown and walk to Katniss's house. I open the door and go into the kitchen. _

_ Katniss is sitting on a chair, next to Gale. She's asleep with her face on the table. And, she's holding Gale's hand. You can tell that their in love. They are the real star-crossed lovers. I stand there for minutes taking in the scene. I shake Katniss's shoulder. _

_ I watch Katniss slowly wake up. She turns her head. "Go on up to bed, Katniss. I'll look after him now," I say. _

_ "Peeta. About what I said yesterday, about running-" Katniss starts. _

_ "I know." I say. Katniss looks down. "There's nothing to explain." _

_ Katniss looks up at me and studies me. She bites her lip and looks back to her hands in her lap. I now that Katniss fells bad for me. Because she doesn't love me. "Peeta-" she says. _

_ "Just go to bed, okay?" I say. _

_ I watch as Katniss disappears up the stairs. I take Katniss's place in front of Gale. As I sit, my mind drifts off to the nice life Katniss will have with Gale. At least Katniss will be happy. I get rid of my ideas about what life would be like with Katniss. It was all just in my imagination anyway._

_ "What happened to you?" I hear Gale's voice. He's laying there, his grey eyes studying me carefully. I take a deep breath._

_ "What happened to you?" I ask._

_ Gale laughs. "Seriously. What's wrong?"_

_ I frown. "What do you mean?" _

_ Gale looks me in the eyes. "Your crying," _

_ I run my hands along my face. It turns out, I am crying. "I think you can guess why." I say._

_ Gale nods. "You should really find out how it feels for her to be engaged to another boy." _

_ I shake my head. "You should find out what it feels like to be engaged to her, while she loves another boy." And the conversation stops there._

_ I guess I'll be alone forever. I'm not as close to my family as I used to be. The girl I love loves another. I'll never marry another girl. And I won't have kids._

_ Gale must have fell back asleep. I sit there and think about how alone I am. It's morning now, and i haven't slept all night. I almost think I'm hallucinating when I feel someone tap my shoulder. _

_ I turn around and find Katniss. Except she has blonde hair and blue eyes. But, it must be Katniss. I rub my eyes. When I open them, I know she'll be gone. But she isn't. I blink a few times and realize it's Katniss's mother. _

_ "Good morning," I say. _

_ Mrs. Everdeen nods. "Morning," she says quietly. "What time did you get here?" she asks while checking Gale's wounds. _

_ "I don't know, hours ago, I think. I didn't get much sleep last night." I say. _

_ Mrs. Everdeen is silent for a moment, while she cleans some blood from Gale's back. "You could sleep now." she finally says. _

_ I shake my head. " I don't think I could if I tried." I say. _

_ She frowns. "Would you like some milk? That usually calms Katniss down." I nod, because I know I need to go to sleep. _

_ Mrs. Everdeen makes me sit down and she brings out two mugs. She sits in a chair across from me, and hands me a mug. I thank her, and she nods. _

_ "So, how's your dad?" Mrs. Everdeen asks. I raise my eyebrow, remembering that my father wanted to marry Mrs. Everdeen, once._

_ "He's all right. I visited him earlier, today," I say. _

_ Now Mrs. Everdeen raises her eyebrow. "In this storm?" she asks. I nod. "No one should be out in this storm, much less, someone with only one leg," _

_ "I was supposed to go to the bakery last night, for dinner, but then I saw Gale." I say turning my head in Gale's direction. "And I wanted to apologize to my dad." I say. _

_ Mrs. Everdeen nods. "And your mother?" she asks. "How's she?"_

_ "I guess she's all right, too." I say. _

_ Mrs. Everdeen nods. "I'm sorry I asked," she says quietly. _

_ I shake my head. "That's all right." _

_ I feel like I have to be nice to her. Because for one, she's Katniss's mother. And she seems fragile. Like anything said wrong could brake her._

_ I clear my throat, and Mrs. Everdeen looks up from the floor. "I'm sorry, but I've never heard your name before, Mrs. Everdeen." I say hoping she'll tell me it. _

_ She looks at me for a long time, just like Katniss does when she's deciding something. "You can call me Iris, if you want." she says. _

_ I hear something moving upstairs. I sigh. "Mrs. Ever-" I stop myself when she raises her eyebrows. "...Iris, your family were healers?" I ask. _

_ She nods. "Yes. Our shop was right next to the bakery." she says. I nod. There is an empty building next to the bakery, it hasn't been used for years. "Your father was my best friend," she says._

_ Before I can ask more, Prim comes down the stairs, adjusting her braids. Iris looks toward Prim. "There's a blizzard, outside, so no school today." _

_ Prim smiles. Iris stands up and goes into the kitchen. Prim takes her place. I examine her face and realize Prim looks like Katniss and Iris, too. I wonder what Katniss's dad looked like._

_ "What are you doing here, Peeta? Didn't you go home last night?" Prim asks. _

_ I smile. "Yes, but I came back to check in on you guys." _

_ Prim nods. "Don't worry Gale has always been like a brother to Katniss," _

_ I don't let this get my hopes up. "I know Prim. But sometimes, things change." I say._

_ Prim nods. "I guess. Maybe she does love Gale. But I still think she'll choose you." says Prim._

_ I chuckle. "What makes you think that?" I ask her. _

_ Prim motions toward Gale with her hand. "They're too alike."_

_ I consider what Prim is saying. But I think that having something in common will only make their relationship easier. So I let go of my hope again. _

_ "Prim," calls Iris. Prim literally skips to the kitchen. I laugh._

_ "I should go back home," I tell them. _

_ Iris looks up. "Not in this blizzard," she says. _

_ I shake my head. "I should be fine, it's three housed down." _

_ Iris sighs. "Are you sure, dear?" _

_ I nod my head. "Yes. And, I don't want to leave my house too long, with this storm." I say. _

_ Iris nods. "Just promise me you'll go right home. Katniss doesn't need anyone else she cares about in poor health. All right?" _

_ I nod. "Yes. Thank you for everything. Good bye Mrs... I mean, Iris, bye Prim." I say. _

_ They both wave. "Goodbye." _

_ And with that, I walk into the blizzard._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I walk back home. I should check on Haymitch. So, I walk into the kitchen and get some bread for him. It probably wont matter to Haymitch if it's warm or not. He may not even be awake.

I head back into the blizzard. I finally reach Haymitch's house. The door isn't locked. When I go inside, I find Haymitch passed out on the table, like usual. I put the loaf of bread down and look around. It's cold inside. I start to rebuild Haymitch's fire, when I'm done, I look around for anything else to do, I find a lot of things to do, but I decide to go home.

I close Haymitch's door. As I'm walking back to my house, I trip and fall into the snow. When I land, I somehow hit my head on something hard. I cover my mouth, I haven't felt this much pain since the Games, when the muttations bit my leg. I look at the ground where I hit my head. I find blood stained snow.

I lay down on my back. Maybe this is how I should go. I could die in this storm if I stayed here. No one needs me. Especially not Katniss. But I stand up anyway, and struggle to find my way back home.

Once I get home, i go through my cabinets, and search for medicine. I find something and take it quickly.

I go into my painting room. I start to pain Gale, tied to the square, and Katniss running in front of him with the whip slicing through the air. The phone rings. I walk down the stairs, wincing from my wound.

"Hello." I answer the phone.

"Hey. I just wanted to make sure you got home," says Katniss.

I smile at her voice. "Katniss, I live three houses away from you," I say, so that Katniss doesn't ask me if I'm all right.

"I know, but with the weather and all," she says. I guess she at least cares about my safety.

"Well, I'm fine. Thank you for checking." I say turning towards the mirror.

My eyes widen at my reflection. My blonde curls are died red, from my wound. My wound is more serious than I thought. Maybe I should tell Katniss. But then, she'd insist on coming over to help me. And she could get hurt in the storm, too. I'll figure something out after the call ends.

"How's Gale?" I ask.

"All right. My mother and Prim are giving him a snow coat now,"

I nod. "And your face?"

"I've got some, too." she says. Maybe I'll make myself a snow coat. "Have you seen Haymitch today?" she asks.

I nod, but realize we're on the phone, and she can't see me. " I checked on him. Dead drunk. But I built up his fire and left him some bread," I say.

There is a short pause. " I wanted to talk to both of you." Katniss says quietly.

I raise my eyebrow. "Probably have to wait until after the weather calms down," I say. "Nothing much will happen before that, anyway,"

I can see Katniss nodding in my head. "Not much," she says, then hangs up.

I give myself a snow coat, and go back upstairs to finish the painting. I start painting a picture of Gale on the kitchen table and Katniss sitting next to him, holding his hand. This causes me to paint a new painting of Gale and Katniss in the woods, holding hands, and then, I add three of their children running around. The next picture paint is of me, laying in the snow, with blood coming from my head. It's just like earlier, except, in the painting, I'm dead.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I spend the next three days painting, and baking, and applying snow coats to my wound, and smashing every mirror in my house.

My mother thought I was ugly. And it must be true. Or else Katniss would like me. My mother would tell me I wasn't even good enough to get a girl from the Seam. She was right.

I now have several paintings of Gale and Katniss, so many paintings, that they cover every wall in my house. I've burned every picture of me and Katniss, besides pictures that were real. The phone rings.

"Hello?" I say, sighing as I look into the broken mirror.

"Hey. I was wondering if you want to go into town with me?" Katniss says.

I sniff. "The storm stopped?" I ask. I covered the windows, and didn't consider looking outside.

"Yeah. They cleared all the snow up yesterday." Katniss says like it's obvious.

"Oh. I've been painting. And baking. No time to look outside." I say with a laugh.

Katniss is silent for a moment. "Are you okay?" she says. I laugh but don't answer. Katniss sighs. "I need to talk to you remember? Do you want to come into town?"

I nod. "Yeah. Haymitch too, right?" I say.

"Yeah. Meet you outside?" she asks.

I nod, but stop myself. "Yeah. But give me thirty minutes, I'm not dressed or anything." I say.

Katniss laughs. "Okay," she says and hangs up.

I go upstairs and get in the shower, because I haven's showered for four days. I get dressed, and make sure my wound is covered by my hair. I go downstairs and eat breakfast. I look at the painting of me dead in the snow. I wonder what it would feel like to die.

I stand up and go outside. Katniss waits by a tree. I join her and she stands up.

"Was I late?" I ask.

Katniss shakes her head. "No. I just came outside right after I hung up. Being outside helps me clear my head."

"Okay, do you want to get Haymitch?" I ask.

We wake Haymitch up and drag him along with us. We don't speak until the Victor's Village is far away, we all know it's too dangerous. Finally Haymitch breaks the silence.

"So we're all heading off into the great unknown, are we?" Haymitch asks.

Katniss look annoyed now. "No. Not anymore." she says.

Haymitch laughs. "Worked through the flaws in that plan, did you, sweetheart?" Katniss glares at him. "And new ideas?" he says. I chuckle, Katniss is always coming up with ideas, that usually aren't thought out very well.

The berries in the arena. Her and I getting married. Running away. They get more ridiculous each time.

"I want to start an uprising," she says.

It takes all my will power not to laugh. But Haymitch does anyway. "Well, I want a drink. You let me know how that works out for you, though," he says.

Katniss looks angry. "Then what's your plan?"

I let myself laugh now.

"My plan is to make sure everything is just perfect for your wedding. I called and rescheduled the photo shot without giving too many details." says Haymitch.

Katniss laughs. "You don't even have a phone."

"Effie had that fixed." he says.

"Do you know she asked me if I'd like to give you away? I told her the sooner the better," he tells her. I smile.

"Haymitch." says Katniss, almost pleading.

"Katniss." Haymitch mimics her tone. "It won't work."

We stop talking as a team or men with shovels pass us. By the time the men are out of earshot, we're in the square. We all stop walking.

The square has been transformed completely. The seal of Panem hangs form the roof of the Justice Building. The most horrifying change made to the square is several torture devices.

"Thread's a quick worker," says Haymitch. I nod and look up and notice fire. The Hob. It's an illegal trading post, where people like Katniss sell items. I've been their before, to get flower, or to sell bread at very low prices, since my mother can't punish me for it anymore.

"Haymitch, you don't think everyone was still in-" Katniss doesn't finish the sentence.

"Nah, they're smarter than that. You'd be, too, if you'd been around longer." says Haymitch. Katniss's face relaxes a bit. "Well, I better go see how much rubbing alcohol the apothecary can spare." says Haymitch as he goes off into the square.

Katniss looks at me. "What's he want that for?" she asks. To drink. I think. Since the Hob is no longer standing, and that's where Haymitch got his liquor from, he needs to find another way. I frown. Katniss must realize Haymitch's plans, because her eyes widen. "We can't let him drink it. He'll kill himself, or at the very least go blind. I've got some white liquor put away at home." she says.

"Me, too. Maybe that will hold him until Ripper finds a way to be back in business," I say.

I haven't seen my family for three days. " I need to check on my family." I say.

"I have to go see Hazelle." she says sounding worried. I guess Hazelle didn't show up to check on Gale after the snow cleared. Maybe they didn't make it in the blizzard.

"I'll go, too. Drop by the bakery on my way home," I say.

"Thanks." Katniss says.

The streets are almost empty. We see faces peeking out from their houses. I smile at the small child in the window, then a parent pulls the child away from the window. I keep walking.

Hazelle opens the door. "Hello," she says. We walk into the small house, and I realize Katniss grew up in a house like this. "I couldn't leave her," says Hazelle. I look around and find a small little girl laying down, she looks sick. "I knew Gale'd be in the best possible hands."

"Or course. He's much better. My mother says he'll be back in the mines in a couple of weeks." says Katniss.

Hazelle give a sad smile. "May not be open until then, anyway," she says. "Word is they're closed until further notice." I study the little girl. Two boys sit around the room.

"You closed down, too?" Katniss asks.

I look up. "Not officially. But everyone's afraid to use me now." Hazelle washes everyone's cloths for a living.

"Maybe it's the snow," I say.

Hazelle shakes her head. "No, Rory made a quick round this morning. Nothing to wash, apparently," she tells me. I'm guessing Rory is one of Gale's brothers.

One of the boys, who looks a few years younger than Prim, who I'm guessing is Rory, stands up and wraps his arms around Hazelle. "We'll be all right." he says. I smile. Katniss digs in her pocket, and pulls out and handful of money and sets it on the table.

"My mother will send something for Posy." Katniss says. Posy must be the little girl.

Outside, Katniss turns to me. "You go on back. I want to walk by the Hob." she says.

But there might be Peacekeepers there. "I'll go with you," I say.

Katniss shakes her head. "No. I've dragged you into enough trouble," she says.

I laugh. "And avoiding a stroll by the Hob... that's going to fix things for me?" I say, then smile and take her hand.

We finally reach the burning building. There aren't any Peacekeepers around. The must know no one will bother to save it. I notice some black water surrounding our shoes.

"It's all that coal dust, from the old days," says Katniss. I nod. "I want to check on Greasy Sae." she says. Greasy Sae is an old lady, who made soup at the Hob.

"Not today, Katniss. I don't think we'd be helping anyone by dropping in on them," I say.

Katniss nods, understanding.

We go back to the square. Katniss decides to go into the bakery with me. So I go through the front, hoping my mother isn't there. I'm lucky. She's in the back. But she could come out at any moment.

Katniss buys some cakes, probably for Prim, while I talk to my father.

"How were you guys, with the blizzard?"I ask.

My dad nods. "We were alright, you?" he asks.

"I'm fine. I wonder if we'll have any more storms like that." I say.

My dad shakes his head. "Maybe. I hope not."

I want to ask my Dad about Iris, but I don't think I should with Katniss here.

I can can sense Katniss getting impatient. So I say goodbye to my father, take Katniss's hand, and we head toward the Victor's Village.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The mines stay closed for two weeks. By then most of the District is starving. I would make bread, and give it out, hoping it would make a difference. I see kids signing up for tesserae, to get food. The mines reopen, and I hear the conditions for the workers are worse than before. The new torture devices are used, almost every day.

Gale goes back home. Haymitch hired Hazelle as a housekeeper, thanks to Katniss. Now Haymitch's house is always clean, and smells decent. But, I don't think Haymitch notices. Even though Katniss and I rationed Haymitch's liquor, he's almost out.

People start avoiding me. So, I stop making bread. One day, I got mad at Gale, for no reason, and burnt every painting of him, except his whipping and Katniss by him at the table. The rest of the paintings just made me feel bad about myself, anyway.

For the most part, I don't go into town. I paint my nightmares when I can't sleep. And I paint random things, a tree, the night sky, a sunset. My mission is to paint a rainbow. But they come and go so quickly.

I hear a knock on my door. When I open the door, I find Haymitch. "Hey, kid. I think it would be good for us to leave our houses for a while. Do you want to go to Katniss's?" he says.

I nod. "Okay?" We went to Katniss's house last night, too.

Iris greets us at the door. "Hello. Katniss isn't home, but you're welcome to come in and wait for her." she says.

I look at Haymitch. "Thank you." he says. We both sit in rockers, and Haymitch insists we play a game of chess while we wait for Katniss. Someone knocks on the door.

Iris opens it to find two Peacekeepers. Haymitch and I stand up and stand by Iris. "Is there anything I can help you with," she asks.

Prim comes downstairs. "Yes. We need to speak with Katniss Everdeen. Is she here?" one asks.

I look at Iris, she looks frightened. "No. She went out. I don't know where, she never tells me anything." she says. "She should be back soon, though."

The Peacekeepers move to the doorway of the kitchen. "That's fine, we'll wait for her." says the other. Haymitch sits back in the rocker, and I follow. We continue our game.

Hours pass by. We have played over ten games of chess. And I don't ever want to see a chess board again. I notice a cat in the corner of the room. "Oh, who's that?" I ask Prim.

Prim stands up. "Who?" she asks, confused. I motion toward the cat. "Oh! That's my cat, Buttercup. Hasn't Katniss mentioned him?" I shake my head. "Oh, well this is Buttercup. You know my goat Lady, right?" she asks.

I nod by head. "I've heard about her, in the arena."

In the Games, when I wasn't feeling very well, because the wound on my leg, I asked Katniss to tell me a story, about the happiest day she could remember. And she told me about now she got Lady for Prim's birthday.

Prim nods. "You'll have to officially meet Lady someday." she says.

I nod. "Of course."

Prim smiles. "But you can meet Buttercup now. If you want." she says.

I nod. "Sure,"

Prim picks Buttercup up and sets him on my lap. "Buttercup, this is Peeta, Peeta this is Buttercup." she says with a giggle.

"Uh, hi." I say awkwardly to the cat.

"Go ahead and pet him." says Prim. So I pet the cat awkwardly.

Haymitch clears his throat. "I hate to interrupt your cat time, Peeta, but we're in the middle of a game," he says.

Prim laughs to herself and gently picks the cat up. "Sorry." she says. I frown and concentrate again on the game.

Iris laughs. "She should be here for dinner any minute now."

One Peacekeeper laughs. "Mrs. Everdeen, I don't think your daughter is coming back." she says. I look at the Peacekeeper. "Did you know, we just started electrifying the fence that surrounds the district, earlier today." she says. I turn away and put my head in my hands. If Katniss went into the woods today, she could be stuck out there. Or she ran away. Maybe with Gale.

"Where is that daughter of yours?" says the other Peacekeeper. "Perhaps we should send a squad to search for her."

Iris approaches the Peacekeepers. "No need. I said my daughter will be here!"

"For your sake, Mrs. Everdeen, I hope she does come." says the girl Peacekeeper.

Nearly moments after the Peacekeeper has spoken the door opens.

"Hello," says Katniss.

I let out a breath. "Here she is, just in time for dinner," says Iris from the kitchen.

I watch as Katniss takes off her jacket and shakes the snow from her hair. "Can I help you with something?" Katniss asks the Peacekeepers.

"Head Peacekeeper Thread sent us with a message for you," says the woman.

"They've been waiting for hours," says Iris.

Katniss smiles. "Must be important message," she says.

The Peacekeeper nods. "May we ask where you've been, Miss Everdeen?"

Katniss laughs. "Easier to ask where I haven't been,"

"So where haven't you been?" says Haymitch.

Katniss sighs. "Well, I haven't been talking to the Goat Man about getting Prim's goat pregnant, because someone gave me completely inaccurate information as to where he lives," she says.

Prim takes a deep breath. "No, I didn't. I told you exactly."

Katniss rolls her eyes. "You said he lives beside the west entrance to the mine,"

"The east entrance," says Prim.

"You distinctly said the west, because then I said, 'Next to the slag heap?' and you said, 'Yeah,'" says Katniss.

"The slag heap next to the east entrance," says Prim.

Katniss frowns. "No. When did you say that?"

"Last night," says Haymitch, Katniss glares at Haymitch.

When we came over yesterday, I do remember Prim saying the east. "It was definitely the east," I say, and look at Haymitch, we both start laughing. Katniss glares at both of us now. "I'm sorry, but it's like I've been saying. You don't listen when people talk to you." she says.

"Bet people told you he didn't live there today and you didn't listen again," says Haymitch.

"Shut up, Haymitch." she says, indicating Haymitch was right. We laugh again. "Fine. Somebody else can arrange to get the stupid goat knocked up," says Katniss, causing us to laugh even harder.

"What's in the bag?" the Peacekeeper asks.

I stop Katniss and watch her dump out the bag. "See for yourself." I notice a bag of candy.

"Oh good. We're running low on bandages." says Iris.

I walk to the table and open the candy bag. "Ooh, peppermints," I say, shoving one in my mouth.

"They're mine." says Katniss, as she moves to take the bag away from me, but I quickly toss the bag to Haymitch. He stuffs a fist full of the candy into his mouth, and passes it to Prim. "None of you deserves candy!" says Katniss.

I smile. "What, because we're right?" I say wrapping my arm around Katniss. She yelps in pain, and tries to cover the sound up. But I know she's hurt. I frown. "Okay, Prim said west. I distinctly heard west. And we're all idiots. How's that?" I say.

"Better," she says. I remember the Peacekeepers think we're getting married. So I lean in for a kiss, and she accepts it.

I watch as she looks back at the Peacekeepers. "You have a message for me?" she asks.

The Peacekeeper tells Katniss the fence is electrified full time, and they leave. Iris locks the door behind them. I realize the Peacekeeper probably thought Katniss was in the woods. And they were going to punish her in someway. And she probably was in the woods because she's hurt. Katniss slumps against the table.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Oh, I banged up my left foot. The heel. And my tailbone's had a bad day, too." she says.

I help Katniss over to the rocker I was in, and she slowly sits down. Iris removes boots. "What happened?" she asks examining the foot.

"I slipped and fell," says Katniss. We look at her, because we don't believe her excuse. "On some ice."

Katniss winces as Iris does something to her foot. "There might be a break," says Iris, then checks the other foot. "This one seems all right." she examines Katniss's tailbone. "It's badly bruised." Prim gets Katniss's pajamas. She is changed and fed.

Prim sits next to Katniss. "How was school?" Katniss asks her.

"All right. We learned about coal by- products," says Prim. I smile. "Are you going to try on your wedding dresses?" Prim asks. My eyes widen. Katniss has already been sent wedding dresses?

"Not tonight. Tomorrow probably," says Katniss.

"Wait until I get home, okay?" says Prim.

"Sure." says Katniss.

Iris gives Katniss something that must have sleep syrup, because her eyelids start to fall. Sleep syrup makes you fall asleep. I remember in the arena, Katniss gave me some sleep syrup, so she could sneak off to the Cornucopia. She came back with a wound on her forehead.

Iris wraps Katniss's foot, and I volunteer to take Katniss to her room. I have to pick her up. I tuck her in, say good night, and start to walk away. But Katniss grabs my hand. "Don't go yet. Not until I fall asleep." she says.

I smile, and sit down next to her, holding her hand in both of mine. "Almost thought you'd changed your mind today. When you were late for dinner." I say.

Katniss yawns. "No, I'd have told you," She pulls my hand up to her face and leans her check against it. "Stay with me." she says.

Without hesitating, I whisper, "Always."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

After that, I came by Katniss's house everyday. I bring her cheese buns, because I've learned they are her favorite. She also convinces me to help her work on her family book.

Someone on Iris's side of the family started it. The book is filled with drawings of plants, and then it gives the description of their medical uses. Katniss's father added a section about edible plants. I'm beginning to think plants are an important part in Katniss's family, so much that everyone is named after plants.

Kantiss wanted to add her own section. Based off the knowledge she gained by herself, and what she has leaned training for the Games. I find out why she needs my help, to draw the pictures, because she can't draw very well. Instead she explains the plants, and has me draw them on seperate pieces of paper until I get them right.

While I draw, I think about the future. I no longer think it's impossible for me to be with Katniss, but it's just as possible that she could choose to be with Gale, or even someone else. I'd like to know where Katniss sees herself in a few years.

I look up from the drawing. "What do you want to do when your older?" I ask.

Katniss looks confused. "What do you mean? Like a job, or what?" she says.

"I see myself married with kids." I say.

"Really? With who?" she says.

I look away from her. "I think you know." I look back up at Katniss, who is sitting there awkwardly. "It probably won't happen."

"Probably not." she agrees.

I look back down. Katniss lets out a frustrated sigh. "There's nothing wrong with you, Peeta. I just don't want to get married or have kids," she says.

I sniff. "Why?" I ask. Katniss stands up and leaves the room. "Great," I mutter. Now we may not even be friends. Katniss comes back in, holding something. She sits down next to me and hands it to me. It's a picture, of Iris and a man, who also looks just like Katniss. I think it's her dad. I look up at Katniss.

"I don't want to end up like my mother." she says. "After my dad died, she was never the same. She would lay in her bed, and wouldn't get up. Not even when Prim would beg. She didn't take care of us." says Katniss. "I just don't want to end up like that," she says.

Then we continue working on the book. I wanted to tell Katniss that she wouldn't end up like her mother, but she looks like she'd done talking.

Another day, I catch Katniss staring at me. I would have thought she was looking at something else, if Katniss hadn't looked away, and her cheeks hadn't turned red.

"You know, I think this is the first time we've ever done anything normal together," I say.

"Yeah," says Katniss.

Each afternoon I carry Katniss downstairs and she turns on the TV. And we do the same thing every single day.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I finish decorating a cake. I designed it to look just like the arena from my Games. I took me all day to get each detail of the arena into this cake. And a lot of re-watching my Games to create sections of the arena I haven't been in.

I would have gone to Katniss's today, to work on the book. But, she was being photographed in the wedding dresses, and her prep team wouldn't let me in the house.

Once I finish the arena cake, I go to sleep. "It's lovely." says Katniss. "If only you could frost someone to death,"

I frown. "Don't be so superior. You can never tell what you'll find in the arena. Say it's actually a gigantic cake-" I say.

"Say we move on." says Katniss.

I wake up. Katniss and I had this conversation in the Capitol right before the Games. We were at the camouflage station in the Training Center. I laugh, thinking about my arena cake. I'll have to show Katniss. But today, I need to visit my family. I get out of bed, and get dressed.

I go around through the front door of the bakery. "Well, if it isn't my favorite victor," says my older brother, Rye.

"So I'm your favorite brother, too?" I ask.

Rye laughs. "You wish," he says jumping over the counter.

My Dad walks into the room. "Peeta," he says.

I frown. "Dad." I'm sad, because my relationship with my Dad isn't what it was before the Games. But I don't know what to do about it.

"There is a mandatory programming on TV tonight at 7:30, Peeta." he says.

So I go home, after visiting with both Rye and my Dad. And at 7:30 I turn on the TV. There interviewing Katniss's stylist, Cinna. And then out attention is directed to a screen. I sigh. Then they're showing pictures of Katniss in wedding dresses. She looks beautiful, but I would prefer her in something less complicated, if we were getting married for real.

I'm about to turn the TV off when Caesar says, "And make sure to stay tuned for the other big event of the evening. That's right, this year will be the seventy-fifth anniversary to the Hunger Games, and that means it's time for our third Quarter Quell!"

The anthem plays, and President Snow appears, followed by a boy in white, carrying a box. When the anthem ends, President Snow starts to speak about the Dark Day that resulted in the Games. The laws for the Games state that every twenty five years, there would be a Quarter Quell, a glorified version of the Games, that would remind the districts of those killed in the rebellion.

Then, the President tells us what happened in the past Quarter Quells. "On the twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the revels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on the tributes who would represent it."

I shake my head, and wonder what it would be like to be elected to be a tribute. To be chosen by the people of my district, to die.

"On the fiftieth, as a reminder that two rebels died for each Capitol Citizen, every district was required to send twice as many tributes." says President Snow. That's forty seven people to fight against instead of twenty- three. Haymitch won these Games. I start to sweat.

And now we honor our third Quarter Quell," says the President. The boy in the white opens the lid of the box, and steps forward. I notice many envelopes in the box. President Snow must be expecting that many Quarter Quells. The President removes the envelope labeled '75'. He takes out a small piece of paper.

"On the seventy-fifth, anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing pool of victors." says President Snow.

And there's only one female victor in District Twelve.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Katniss is going back into the arena, against other victors. I have to go back in to protect her. This time, there will be only one victor. And I know for certain, there is no future for me and Katniss. But, she could live and come back home and have a future with Gale. I just have to make sure that if I get drawn, Haymitch won't volunteer.

I run out of the house. Strait to Haymitch's. I open the door and find Haymitch at his table with a bottle of liquor. I sit down across from him.

"Kid, don't try anything, I'm older, you've got a life ahead of you. I know how to win a Quarter Quell. I'll protect her," he says, knowing why I'm here.

"I can't risk it, Haymitch. I won't watch her die, and not be able to do anything to save her." I say. Haymitch starts to protest. "Look, you choose to keep Katniss alive in the first Games, right? Now you owe me. So we got to protect Katniss. That's what I want. I don't care what she says, it's Katniss and that go in.

"Kid, I don't-" he begins.

"Look, Haymitch, we need someone to to mentor us, and, you said yourself you know how to win a Quarter Quell." I say. "You owe me."

"Fine, it's you and her in the arena." he says.

I smile and go back home. I lay down on my bed. I'm going back into the arena. I accept the fact, and fall asleep.

I wake up and go straight to Katniss's house. I don't need to get dressed because I slept in my cloths. I just wan to make sure Katniss is okay about the announcement.

Iris answers the door. "Hello." she mumbles. I can tell she isn't in a good mood right now.

"Is Katniss, around?" I ask.

She looks up from her feet. "Yes. But she's... she's hungover." she says.

"What?" I ask. That can't be right.

"She went to Haymitch's house, and came back drunk. She... even brought a bottle home." says Iris. I guess it's true.

I was going to be nice about the whole Quarter Quell announcement, but now, I realize I need to make Katniss train, and I'll punish Haymitch, for letting her have the liquor in the first place, by making him train too.

"Don't worry, Iris. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again." I say.

And then, I track down Ripper. "Hey," I shout when I see her in town.

She stops and gives me a sad smile. "Hey, I'm sorry about the Quell." she says.

I sigh. I can't yell at her, now. "Yeah... Listen. Katniss got drunk last night. And I realize now, if one of us is going to come back, we can't all be alcoholics. So, if you sell to either Katniss or Haymitch, I'll turn you in to the Peacekeepers. Got it?" I say. Ripper nods. I put some money on the table. "Thank you." I say, and walk to the Victor's Village.

I open Haymitch's door. I approach Haymitch. He looks tired. "Haymtich." I yell.

He jumps up and looks at me. "Boy, why are you here? I still remember, you go into the arena, we save Katniss." he says.

I smile. "So, I heard Katniss came by to visit you last night, as well." Haymitch nods. "Why did she try to convince you to let me win? Or what?" I ask.

"Your not wrong." says Haymitch. "But don't worry. I know it won't make a difference if your alive and she isn't. I'll save her."

"I'm glad you remember, but that's not why I'm here, Haymitch." I say.

He lets out a frustrated breath. "It's not that big of a deal, she didn't even finish the bottle." he says. I stop myself from attacking him.

It's not that big of a deal? We can't win if we're all drunk!" I yell.

Haymitch rubs his face. "Fine I won't give her anymore," he says.

"It's too late for that, Haymitch." I say, and grab every bottle in his house. I go upstairs, so Haymitch won't see me pour them out. I put the empty bottles into a cardboard box. When I get downstairs, I notice Katniss at his table, too. I grin, and place the cardboard box on the table. "There, it's done," I say. But I don't think what I've done has clicked with either of them.

"What's done?" Katniss says under her breath.

I move away from both of them. "I've poured all the liquor down the drain," I say.

Haymitch jumps a little. "You what?"

"I tossed the lot," I say.

"He'll just buy more." Katniss says sounding annoyed.

"No he won't," I say. "I tracked down Ripper this morning and told her I'd turn her in the second she sold to either of you. I payed her off, too, just for good measure, but I don't think she's eager to be back in the Peacekeeper's custody."

Hamitch tries to stab me with his knife, but I deflect it easily.

"What business is it of yours what he does?" Katniss asks angrily.

"It's completely my business." I say. "However it falls out, two of us are going to be in the arena again with the other as mentor. We can't afford any drunkards on this team. Especially not you, Katniss."

"What? Last night's the only time I've ever been drunk." she says.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, and look at the shape you're in,"

Katniss looks down at her fists, then back at Haymitch. "Don't worry, I'll get you more liquor."

"Then I'll turn you both in. Let you sober up in the stocks," I say.

"What's the point to this?" Haymitch asks rolling his eyes.

"The point is that two of us are coming home from the Capitol. One mentor and one victor," I say. Katniss sighs. "Effie's sending me recordings of all the living victors. We're going to watch their Games and learn everything we can about how they fight. We're going to start acting like carriers. And one of us is going to be victor again whether you like it or not!" I say leaving the house and slamming the door behind me.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I call Effie. "Hello." she asks.

"Hello, Effie." I say.

She sniffs. "Peeta, oh, was devastated when I heard about the Quarter Quell.

"Yeah, it's bad news." I say.

Effie lets out a breath. "And with the wedding." she says. "How is Katniss?"

"The news was... hard on her." I say.

"Oh, poor dear." says Effie.

"Effie. I was wondering if you could send me recordings of every victors Games." I say.

"Oh. Yes. Just make sure to bring them back when you come here. I'll send them." she says.

"Thanks Effie." I say.

"You're very welcome, call if you need anything else." she says.

"Sure thing Effie." I say, then hang up. I throw the arena cake into the trash. Katniss and Haymitch come to my door a few days latter.

"We decided we'd train for the Games." says Katniss.

In the Games we exercise to strengthen our bodies. In the afternoon we work on our combat skills. Katniss attempts to teach us how to climb trees, but I probably won't need to know this.

Haymitch doesn't improve very much. But that doesn't bother me. He isn't going into the arena.

Everyone helps us. Iris puts us all on a special diet to lose weight. Prim treats our sore muscles. And Gale comes on Sundays to teach us about snares. Gales is just as talented with snares as Katniss is with archery. I make sure to be nice to Gale.

Once the recordings from Effie arrive, we watch a Game every night. I write notes about each victor and their fighting skills.

More Peacekeepers arrive to District Twelve. The Reaping is quieter than usual. Haymitch and I are roped off in a section, and Katniss stand in a section all alone. Effie clears her throat. "Welcome." she says, unlike her usual self. "To the seventy-fifth annual Hunger Games. Our third Quarter Quell." she isn't even trying to act excited. "Ladies first." She walks slowly to the Reaping bowl, and struggles to pull that one name out. "Katniss Everdeen." And Katniss walks to the stage, looking at her feet. I notice Effie take Katniss's hand for a short second. She drops Katniss's hand and walks to the next Reaping bowl.

"Haymitch Abernathy." says Effie. I let out a relieved breath. I know that if I where chosen, Haymitch would have volunteered. Even though he promised me he wouldn't.

"I volunteer." I say before Haymitch can take even a step toward the stage. Haymitch takes the cloth of my shirt in his hand. "You can't stop me." I whisper. Haymitch lets go, and I join Katniss and Effie on the stage. When I get there, I notice tears rolling down both Katniss and Effie's cheeks. I give them both a sad smile.

Then we go into the Justice Building. Our Head Peacekeeper is waiting inside. "New procedure." he says and we're shoved out the back door and taken to the Train Station. Haymitch is there waiting.

When the train starts to move, I realize I didn't get to say goodbye to my family.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Katniss stands, staring out the window. I can tell she isn't happy about leaving without saying goodbye to her family. "We'll write letters, Katniss. It will be better, anyway. Give them a piece of us to hold on to. Haymitch will deliver them for us if... they need to be delivered." I say. Katniss nods, and leaves the room without a word.

I made sure to bring Effie's recordings of the other Games. I won't give them back until the interviews.

Effie gathers us for dinner. Effie and I attempt to make conversation, but they die out quickly.

"I love your new hair, Effie." I say.

"Thank you. I had it especially done to match Katniss's pin. I was thinking we might get you a golden ankle band and maybe find Haymitch a gold bracelet or something so we could all look like a team." she says.

I smile. "I think that's a great idea. How about it, Haymitch?" I say.

"Yeah, whatever." he says.

"Maybe we could get you a wig, too," says Katniss, and Haymitch glares at her.

"Shall we watch the recap of the Reapings?" says Effie.

I get my notebook on the victors, and we start the TV. I put stars next to the names of victors chosen this year.

After the recaps end, Haymitch storms out. His friend, Chaff was chosen to represent District Eleven. And Effie leaves too, after expressing her feelings about certain tributes.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" I say to Katniss, while I tear out pages of victors who were not picked.

"What are you going to do?" Katniss asks.

"Just review my notes a while." I say. "Get a clear picture of what we're up against. But I'll go over it in the morning. Go to bed, Katniss.

Katniss gets up and leaves. I review my notes and realize the odds are not in our favor. There's Gloss and Cashmear from District One. They are brother and sister who won different years. Then, there's Brutus and Enobaria from District Two. Enobaria had her teeth sharpened, to use as a weapon. Then there's Finnick. He won ten years ago when he was fifteen. He was the youngest tributes to ever win the Games. And Johanna Mason, who pretended she was a weakling so the others wouldn't see her as a threat, then when there were only a few tributes left, we found out she was very good with an axe.

I put on Brutus' Games. I'm halfway through his Games, when I hear Katniss screaming. I run my finger through my hair.

I stand up to stretch my legs, but spot Katniss. I turn off the tape, Katniss was having nightmares, and I don't want her to see how Brutus kills people.

"Couldn't sleep?" I ask.

Katniss is shaking. "Not for long," she says, and pulls her robe around her tighter.

"Want to talk about it?" I ask, because sometimes this helps Katniss. But she shakes her head.

I hold my arms out to Katniss, and she walks into them. She wraps her arms around my neck, and I pull her closer and smile.

A Capitol attendant appears and we break apart. He sets a tray with milk, like Iris said calms Katniss down, on the table. "I brought an extra cup," he says.

"Thanks," Katniss says quietly.

"And I added a touch of honey to the milk. For sweetness. And just a pinch of spice," he says, and looks at us as if he wants to says more, then he shakes his head and exits the room.

"What's with him?" Katniss asks.

"I think he feels bad for us," I say.

"Right," Katniss says, like she doesn't agree.

"I mean it. I don't think the people of the Capitol are going to be all that happy about us going back in. Or the other victors. They get attached to their champions." I say.

"I'm guessing they'll get over it once the blood starts flowing," says Katniss. It's like she doesn't believe the Capitol people have feelings.

"So, you're watching all the tapes again?" says Katniss.

"Not really. Just sort of skipping all around to see people's different fighting techniques," I say.

"Who's next?" asks Katniss.

"You pick," I say and hold the box out to her.

Katniss picks up Haymitch's Games. "We never watched this one,"

I shake my head. "No. I knew Haymitch didn't want to. The same way we didn't want to relive our own Games. And since we're all on the same team, I didn't think it mattered much." I say.

"Is the person who won in twenty-five in here?" Katniss asks.

"I don't think so, whoever it was must be dead by now, and Effie only sent me victors we might have to face." I say. "Why? You think we ought to watch it?"

"It's the only Quell we have. We might pick up something valuable about how they work," she says, but sounds guilty. "We don't have to tell Haymitch we saw it." She sounds like she's trying to convince herself too.

But I agree, we might be able to learn about how Quells work. "Okay." I say.

So we watch. Katniss doesn't speak until the Reaping in District Twelve. A girl, Maysilee Donner is called. "Oh! She was my mother's friend." She's clinging on to two girls, and they all look familiar. Maysilee looks just like the girl next to her, the girl next to her looks just like Madge. And the other girl looks like a blonde Katniss.

"I think that's your mother hugging her," I say.

Katniss tilts her head. "Madge," says Katniss.

I nod. "That's her mother. She and Maysilee were twins our something. My dad mentioned it once." I say.

Haymitch is called last. "Oh. Peeta, you don't think he killed Maysilee, do you?" asks Katniss.

"With forty-eight players? I'd say the odds are against it," I say.

At the chariot rides, their all dressed in ridiculous coal miner's outfits. Haymitch stands, with a fake smile on his face. I chuckle.

At the interviews, Caesar Flickerman looks the same, only his theme is green. "So Haymitch, what do you think of the Games having on hundred percent more competition than usual?" Caesar asks.

Haymitch shrugs. "I don't see that it makes much difference. They'll still be one hundred percent as stupid as usual, so I figure my odds will be roughly the same." he says, and the audience laughs.

Then we watch as a tribute rises into the arena. And it's a beautiful place, I'm surprised it's an arena. But, everything in the arena turns out to be poisonous.

Haymitch moves in one direction throughout the Games. Haymitch encounters three careers and ends up killing two quickly. But the third disarms Haymitch. The career is about to slit his throat but a dart kills him. I raise my eyebrow as Maysilee steps out of the woods. "We'd live longer with two of us." she says. Maybe I was wrong and Haymitch does kill Maysilee.

"Guess you just proved that. Allies?" Haymitch asks. Maysilee nods. Haymitch wants to keep moving in the same direction. Maysilee keeps asking why, but Haymitch ignores her .Maysilee stops walking until she gets an answer.

"Because it has to end somewhere, right?" says Haymitch. "The arena can't go on forever."

"What do you expect to find?" Maysilee asks.

"I don't know. But maybe there's something we can use," he says.

The get through a hedge. Behind the hedge, is a cliff.

"That's all there is, Haymitch. Let's go back," says Maysilee.

Haymitch shakes his head. "No, I'm staying here," he says.

"All right. There's only give of us left. May as well say good-bye now, anyway. I don't want it to come down to you and me." says Maysilee.

"Okay," says Haymitch. And Maysilee leaves.

Haymitch moves along the edge of the cliff. A pebble falls off the cliff. But a minute later, it lands next to Haymitch. Haymitch looks at it, and tosses a rock off the cliff. The rock flies back out of the cliff, and into Haymitch's hand. He starts laughing.

Then, Maysilee begins to scream. Haymitch runs toward her, he makes it in time to see pink birds skewer her through her neck. He holds her hand while she dies, like Katniss did for Rue.

Another tribute is killed in combat, leaving Haymitch and a girl from District One. They run into each other, and they both receive wounds. Haymitch staggers through the arena, back to his cliff, the girl behind him, carrying an axe.

He reaches the cliff, and collapses onto the ground, just as the girl tosses the axe, it goes over the cliff. She stands there hoping to outlast Haymitch. But the axe flies back over the edge and finds a place in the girls head. Her body is removed. And I click off the tape.

We sit there quietly for a few minutes. "That force field at the bottom of the cliff, it was like the one on the roof of the Training Center. The one that throws you back if you try to jump off and commit suicide. Haymitch found a way to turn it into a weapon." I say.

Katniss grins. "Not just against the other tributes, but the Capitol, too. You know they didn't expect that to happen. It wasn't meant to be part of the arena. They never planned on anyone using it as a weapon. It made them look stupid that he figured it out. I bet they had a good time trying to spin that one. Bet that's why I don't remember seeing it on television. It's almost as bad as us and the berries!" she says.

Then she starts laughing, even though there isn't anything funny about what she said. And she doesn't stop laughing either. I shake my head. But I guess it's been an emotional day for her.

"Almost, but not quite," says Haymitch.

Katniss stops laughing, and we both turn around. Haymitch doesn't look mad, he smirks at us and drinks some wine.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

When we arrive in the Capitol, I'm prepared by my prep team. And Portia helps me get dressed. The costume is really simple, a black jump suit. And Portia places a half crown on my head. It's just like the crown, Katniss and I were given when we where crowned victors, but, it's black, not gold. Portia even puts some black makeup on my face. She leads me to the mirror.

She turns the lights down in the room and presses a button on my wrist. The suit starts to light up, and it looks like it's fire.

She presses the button again and the fire dies. She leads me to where all the other tributes are waiting. I move past tributes, trying to find Katniss.

I find her dressed in the same outfit as me. Her hair is braided the way she had if for her first Reaping. And Finnick Odair is talking to her. He is so close to her that their lips are almost touching. And he's only wearing a net. Finnick looks in my direction, he says something else, throws a sugar cube into his mouth,and walks off.

I stand next to Katniss. "What did Finnick Odair want?" I ask.

Katniss puts her lips close to mine, like Finnick. "He offered me sugar cubes and wanted to know all my secrets," she says.

I laugh. "Ugh. Not really."

"Really," says Katniss stepping away from me. "I'll tell you more about it when my skin stops crawling."

"Do you think we'd have ended up like this if only one of us had won?" I ask, looking around. "Just another part of the freak show?"

"Sure. Especially you." says Katniss.

I smile. "Oh. And why especially me?" I ask.

Katniss rolls her eyes. "Because you have a weakness for beautiful things and I don't," she says. "They would lure you into their Capitol ways and you'd be lost entirely."

"Having an eye for beauty isn't the same thing as a weakness," I point out. "Except possibly when it comes to you."

The music starts and the doors open, the District One tributes are pulled out. "Shall we?" I ask holding my hand out to help her up into the chariot. Once she climbs on, she pulls me up.

"Hold still," says Katniss, and she fixes my crown.

"Have you seen your suit turned on? We're going to be fabulous again." she says.

"Absolutely. But Portia said we're to be very above it all. No waving or anything," I say remembering Katniss on the last chariot ride. "Where are they anyway?" I ask.

"I don't know." she says. "Maybe we better go ahead and switch ourselves on." We both do. "Are we supposed to hold hands this year?" she asks.

"I guess they've left it up to us," I say. Katniss looks into my eyes and our hands find each others.

We roll out and the crowd goes crazy. But I refuse to look up at them once. Eventually we're in the Training Center. Haymitch is talking to the tributes from Eleven. His friend Chaff only has one arm, I'm sure the offered him an artificial one, like they did for me, but he must have not taken it.

Chaff and Seeder, the female tribute from Eleven, join us. Seeder hugs Katniss and I hear them says something. Haymitch joins us. Seeder lets Katniss go, and Chaff throws his arm around Katniss and kisses her mouth, Katniss jerks away and Haymitch laughs.

The Capitol attendants direct us to the elevators, but Haymitch stays behind. Katniss and I are still holding hands. I watch Johanna Mason walks up to Katniss. Johanna pulls off her head dress of leaves, and throws it behind her. She's from District Seven, lumber and paper, so, she's dressed like a tree.

"Isn't my costume awful?" Johanna asks Katniss. "My stylist the biggest idiot in the Capitol. Our tributes have been trees for years under her. Wish I'd gotten Cinna, you look fantastic." she says. Then they start to talk about cloths, I can tell Katniss is out of her element.

Then, Johann unzips the rest of her costume, it falls on the floor and she kicks it away from her. Katniss is even more uncomfortable.

We end up on the elevator with Seeder, Chaff, and Johanna. Katniss has placed herself in the corner, and had even pulled me in front of her. This night must be really uncomfortable for her, with all the victors messing with her. I grin.

I talk to Johanna about my paintings, and she steps off at her floor. I'm surprised Katniss is still holding my hand. The elevator stops on the eleventh floor and Seeder and Chaff leave.

Katniss tosses my hand away from her. I guess she's mad at me. I start laughing. We step off the elevator on our floor. "What?" Katniss asks.

"It's you, Katniss. Can't you see?" I ask.

Katniss glares at me. "What's me?"

"Why they're all acting like this. Finnick with his sugar cubes and Chaff kissing you and that whole thing with Johanna stripping down." I say trying unsuccessfully to use a serious tone. "They're playing with you because you're so... you know."

"No, I don't know," she says.

"It's like when you wouldn't look at me naked in the arena even though I was half dead. You're so... pure," I say.

Katniss's eyes widen. "I am not! I've been practically ripping your clothes off every time there's been a camera for the last year!" she says.

"Yeah, but... for the Capitol, you're pure," I say.

I can tell Katniss is getting angry. "For me, you're perfect. They're just teasing you." I say.

"No they're laughing at me, and so are you!" says Katniss.

I shake my head. "No."

The elevator doors open once again, and Haymitch and Effie come out. Haymitch looks upset once he glances toward the dinning room. I turn around and find our new Avox, Darius.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The last time I saw Darius, he was unconscious on the ground, the night of Gale's whipping. I guess his punishment for interrupting Thread, was this.

Katniss retreats to her old bedroom.

"Oh. She seemed like she was in a decent mood." says Effie.

I go to my room, take my costume off, and get in the shower. I scrub all the black makeup off my face. I get dressed into cloths I would have worn a year ago, and lay on my bed.

I guess my family would want me to win these Games and come back home. But I refused to allow this as an option last year, when I didn't even know Katniss. Now, I can't imagine myself doing anything that would risk Katniss's victory.

She's going to be the one coming home, victor. And that leaves me to die in a few days.

Effie calls me to dinner. I go out and sit at the table. Everyone sits around the table, waiting for Katniss to come out. "She said, she'll be out," says Effie. Minutes latter Katniss appears.

"Well, it took you long enough," says Haymitch.

Katniss ignores him, and sits down. We all try to start conversation with her but fail. Then I watch as Katniss shoves a dish onto the floor, and goes to clean up the mess. Darius starts to clean it up too, and Katniss's silence makes sense, now.

"That's not your job, Katniss!" says Effie.

Then, Katniss sits back down, and glares at Effie for the rest of dinner.

We watch the recap of the Opening Ceremonies. I save a space for Katniss, next to me. But, she squeezes in between Cinna and Haymitch. I put my head in my hands and ignore the recap.

Katniss leaves, and once I hear her door close, I leave too. I get into pajamas and climb into bed. I fall asleep, but soon find myself in a nightmare. Where Katniss becomes an Avox, for her crime in the arena.

When I wake, I climb out of bed and knock quietly on Katniss's door. She doesn't open the door, maybe she's asleep. I lay back down on the bed and fall asleep. Waking from different nightmares, throughout the night.

When I wake up this time, it's morning, so I get dressed and sit at the table. Haymitch comes out after a while. He tells me at Training Sessions, we need to keep up our star crossed act, and we need to make friends with the other victors. I begin to argue it's not a good idea. It would be risking Katniss's life. But Haymitch convinces me it's a good idea, the other victors have know each other for years. We would be their first target in the arena.

Katniss still hasn't come out for breakfast, and I Haymitch is getting mad. He brings Katniss out, and tells her the plan.

Effie comes to bring us to training early, because last year, we were on time, but we were the last tributes to show up. Haymitch tells Effie not to come down with us, because we're the youngest, and it's important we don't look like we have a babysitter. So Effie takes us to the elevator, and even pushes the button for us.

I take Katniss's hand, because I want to make sure she's really there. After my nightmares. I can't tell if she's real or not. Katniss doesn't pull her hand away.

When Atala, the woman who runs training comes out, only half of us are here. Katniss insists we split up to cover more territory, so I head to the Spear Throwing Station, when I look back Katniss is already chatting with the trainer at the Not Tying Station, while working on a not I remember last year. I roll my eyes, and throw the spear.

When I head the Knife Throwing Station, I notice Katniss is still at the Not Tying Station. Except, she isn't alone. Finnick stands next to her, making a noose and pretending to hang himself. Then Katniss ditches Finnick to go to the Fire Starting Station.

While throwing the knifes, I notice the tributes from District Three at the same station as Katniss. I train with Johanna and the boy from her district, Blight. Johanna tells me about how the other victors call Wiress and Beetee, Nuts and Volts.

Then I train with Chaff and Seeder. I think I want them as my allies.

At lunch, Katniss and I talk about how who we want as allies. Katniss wants Wiress and Beetee, so I tell her about her nicknames. Katniss gets defensive about it, and I realize I'll have to be protecting Nuts and Volts and Katniss in the arena. I tell Katniss I want Seeder and Chaff, she seemed okay with Seeder, but not Chaff. So I promised her that I wouldn't let him kiss her again.

After lunch, Katniss tries to get to know other victors. Cashmere and Gloss and even Enobaria. She ends up at the same station as Finnick again. And he introduces Mags, the old lady from his district. Then, Katniss goes to the archery range. The trainer realizes Katniss isn't challenged at the station, so he starts throwing birds up into the air and Katniss starts to shoot them. He throws multiple birds up at a time, and she shoots them all down. If we were not already allies, I'd choose her. Most of the other victors are watching her. Katniss stops to turn around and notices all of us. I can tell she isn't comfortable with the attention. Then a bird shoots up and Katniss turns around and shoots it.

Katniss and I sit at the dinning table and talk. Waiting for Haymitch and Effie to come for dinner.

"So at least half the victors have instructed their mentors to request you as an ally. I know it can't be your sunny personality." says Haymitch, once he does come.

"They saw her shoot," I say smiling. "Actually, I saw her shoot, for real, for the first time. I'm about to put in a formal request myself."

"You're that good?" asks Haymitch. "So good that Brutus wants you?"

Katniss shrugs. "But I don't want Brutus. I want Mags and District Three."

"Of course you do." says Haymitch, then he orders a bottle of wine. "I'll tell everybody you're still making up your mind."

During the next two days, I try to meet every victor. I learn that the tributes from District Six, or the morphlings, because their addicted to morphine, they like to paint too.

The last day of training ends with our Private Training Sessions. When I go out, I'm so mad at the Capitol, about the Games, and sending all of us back into the arena, after we fought so hard to win, and most of the other tributes are old. I realized that Katniss picks allies she fells bad for. Beetee. Wiress. Mags. Rue. Me.

By the time I'm in front of the Gamemakers. I'm thinking of Rue. How she was the youngest. The odds were clearly not in her favor.

I end up painting her onto the floor of the Training Center. Then I go to my room.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

I take a shower, but my hands are still died different colors from the juices I used for the picture of Rue. I realize what I did may not be very helpful to Katniss. At dinner, I notice Katniss's hands are stained red, and I'm confused at why they would be.

"All right, so how did your Private Sessions go?" Haymitch asks when the soup is served. Katniss and I look at each other.

"You first," says Katniss. And I get the feeling Katniss isn't looking forward to voicing what she did. "It must have been really special. I had to wait for forty minutes to go in."

I let out a breath. "Well, I-I did the camouflage thing, like you suggested, Katniss." I hesitate. "You painting something, didn't you? A picture." Katniss asks.

I raise my eyebrow. "Did you see it?" I ask.

"No. But they'd made a real point of covering it up." she says.

"Well, that would be standard. They can't let one tribute know what another did," says Effie. "What did you paint, Peeta? Was it a picture of Katniss?"

"Why would he paint a picture of me, Effie?" Katniss asks, sounding annoyed.

"To show he's going to do everything he can to defend you. That's what everyone in the Capitol's expecting, anyway. Didn't he volunteer to go in with you?" says Effie.

"Actually," I say. "I painted a picture of Rue, how she looked after Katniss had coverd her in flowers."

Everyone is silent for several moments, and I'm worried that I ruined Katniss's odds. "And what exactly were you trying to accomplish?" Haymitch asks.

"I'm not sure." I say. "I just wanted to hold them accountable, if only for a moment. For killing that little girl."

"This is dreadful. That sort of thinking... it's forbidden, Peeta. Absolutely. You'll only bring down more trouble on yourself and Katniss." says Effie.

"I have to agree with Effie on this one." says Haymitch.

But Katniss gives me a small smile. "I guess this is a bad time to mention I hung a dummy and painted Seneca Crane's name on it," she says. I know this wont help, and now the Gamemakers will probably just kill both of us in the arena, but I give Katniss a smile.

Everyone expresses their disapproval for what both of us have done, and Effie runs out. And then, we tell Haymitch we don't want any allies, it seems like Haymitch is really mad at us.

We watch our scores and Katniss and I both get twelves, which has never happened before, in fact, the highest score anyone has ever gotten, was Katniss's eleven, last year.

"Why did they do that?" asks Katniss.

"So that the others will have no choice but to target you." says Haymitch. "Go to bed. I can't stand to look at either of you."

President Snow will probably have the Gamemakers kill us. We're nothing but trouble for him. With the berries. And the uprisings. And now this.

I walk Katniss to our rooms, and she hugs me. "I'm sorry if I made things worse," she says.

"No worse than I did. Why did you do it, anyway?" I ask.

"I don't know." she says. "To show them that I'm more than just a piece in their Games?"

I'm brought back to the night before last years Games. We both couldn't sleep, and I told her something like that. I'm glad she understands it now.

I laugh. "Me too. And I'm not I'm not going to try. To get you home, I mean. But if I'm perfectly honest about it..." I trail off.

"If your perfectly honest about it, you thing President Snow has probably given them direct orders to make sure we die in the arena anyway." she says.

"It's crossed my mind," I say. "But even if that happens, everyone will know we've gone out fighting, right?"

"Everyone will." says Katniss, and I watch as an entire world of thought opens behind Katniss's silver eyes.

"So what should we do with our last few days." Katniss asks.

I smile. "I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you." I say.

"Come on, then," she says, and pulls me into her room. And we fall asleep. Neither of us wake from nightmares. And when we go down for breakfast, we're told our coaching sessions from Haymitch and Effie have been canceled.

"Do you know what this means? We'll have the whole day to ourselves." I say.

"It's too bad we can't go somewhere," says Katniss.

"Who says we can't." I say and we head off to the roof.

We order food, and grab blankets, and have a picnic. Katniss practices tying roots of plants into knots. And I sketch her. We invent a game, where one person throws an apple off the roof into the force field surrounding the building, and the other person has to catch it.

In the afternoon, Katniss lays with her head in my lap while she makes a crown of flowers. And I end up playing with Katniss's hair. When she asks me what I'm doing, I claim that I'm practicing my knots. Katniss smiles. I stop all my movements and the world goes still.

"What?" Katniss asks.

"I wish I could freeze this moment, right now, and live it forever," I say.

"Okay." she says.

"Then you'll allow it?" I ask.

"I'll allow it." she says.

Katniss ends up falling asleep and I don't bother her until the sunsets. I wake her up so she can watch it. Then, we stay on the roof until bed time. Then we go to Katniss's room.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

We're shook awake by Katniss's prep team. I notice one of them crying. Katniss's prep team make me go back to my room.

There, I find my prep team. But, like usual, I don't need any preping, so they brush my hair and chat until Portia is ready for me.

When she is ready for me, she puts me into a tuxedo, and some white gloves, and she doesn't say a single word to me. I wonder if she's still mad at me for what I did in the Private Sessions. We were all supposed to be a team, and our goal was to get Katniss out of the arena alive. And I may have ruined her chances or winning.

Suddenly I remember how Effie was going on about getting all of us something gold, to show we were a team. And Haymitch got something. I wonder if it's too late to ask Effie for something, or is she still mad at me too?

An idea forms in my head. If the President isn't going to order the Gamemakers to have both Katniss and I killed in the Games, then I'll have to convince she's the one who needs to win. To come back to her family. I know how Iris was after Katniss's fathers death. She'd be depressed and then since Katniss didn't win, they would get kicked out of the Victor's Village and have to move back to the Seam. And Prim would have to take care of herself.

"Could I speak with Effie, please Portia, once you're done?" I ask.

Portia looks at me. "I'm done. Go ahead."

I nod. "Thanks,"

I find Effie sitting at the dinning table by herself.

"Hello, Effie." I say.

She jumps, startled. "Hi," she says.

I sit down next to her. "I'm sorry about what we did. Effie." I say.

She sniffs. "Well, now the odds of either of you winning... you can't do those kinds of things. I should have expected that from Katniss, but not you Peeta," she says.

"I know. Neither of us will win. But just in case, I want to make sure Katniss belives she should be the one to go home." I say.

"How on Earth are you going to do that, Peeta?" says Effie. And then I tell her my plan.

We meet Katniss and everyone at the elevator. I'm shocked when I see Katniss's dress. It's one of the wedding dresses from the photo shoot. And it's then that I realize that I'm dressed like a groom here in the Capitol.

When the other tributes see us, they can't stop staring at Katniss.

"I can't believe Cinna put you in that thing." says Finnick.

"He didn't have a choice." says Katniss. "President Snow made him,"

"Well you look ridiculous!" said Cashmere, and we get ready to go on stage. Johanna approaches us and straightens the pearl necklace Katniss is wearing.

Make him pay for it, okay?" says Johanna, and Katniss nods.

I understand what Johanna is saying. Make President Snow pay for sending us all back into the arena. Make even the Capitol question why we have these Games. Killing innocent children. Sending the star crossed lovers back, before they could ever really be together.

It seems like a lot of the other victors are desperately trying to convince the Capitol to make sure they don't send them into the Quell. Soon, Katniss is being interviewed. The Capitol almost start a riot just because they saw her in her wedding dress.

"So, Katniss, obviously this is a very emotional night for everyone. Is there anything you'd like to say?" asks Caesar.

"Only that I'm sorry you won't get to be at my wedding... but I'm glad you at least get to see me in my dress. Isn't it just... the most beautiful thing?" Katniss says.

Then, she begins to twirl around, just like last year, except, this year it doesn't just look like her dress is on fire, she's actually on fire. And it's not like the fake fire that we wore last year for the Opening Ceremonies. The fire is real.

Someone in the crowd screams, but I guess it's not hurting Katniss, because she's still twirling. Then the fire stops, and once the smoke clears, we see Katniss, unharmed, in a new dress. It's the same design, but It's black, and covered in feathers.

"Feathers," says Caesar. "You're a bird."

Katniss nods. "A mockingjay, I think. It's the bird on the pin I wear as a token." she says.

"Well, hats off to your stylist. I don't think anyone can argue that that's not the most spectacular thing we've ever seen in an interview. Cinna, I think you better take a bow!" says Caesar.

Cinna stands and bows. The audience applauds, and Katniss's interview comes to end. During my interview, I'm not paying attention to what I'm saying, until Caesar asks the question I've been waiting for. "So Peeta, what was it like when, after all you've been through, you found out about the Quell?"

I frown. "I was in shock. I mean, one minute I'm seeing Katniss looking so beautiful in all these wedding gowns, and then the next..." I trial off.

"You realized there was never going to be a wedding?" Caesar says.

I consider weather or not I should voice my new idea, or would it get us into more trouble? No. It could stop these Games.

"Caesar, do you think all or our friends here can keep a secret?" I ask, even though were on TV.

"I fell quite certain of it," says Caesar.

"We're already married," I say, and the crowd seems confused.

"But... how can that be?" says Caesar.

"Oh, it's not an official marriage. We didn't go to the Justice Building or anything. But we have this marriage ritual in District Twelve. I don't know what it's like in the other districts. But there's this thing we do, this called a toasting. Where you toast some bread over you're fire and share it." I say.

"Were your family's there?" asks Caesar.

"No, we didn't tell anyone. Not even Haymitch. And Katniss's mother would never have approved. But you see, we knew if we were married in the Capitol, there wouldn't be a toasting. And neither of us really wanted to wait any longer. So one day, we just did it. And to us, we're more married than any piece of paper or big party could make us." I say.

"So this was before the Quell?" asks Caesar.

"Of course before the Quell. I'm sure we'd never have done it after we knew. But who could've seen it coming? No one. We went through the Games, we were victors, everyone seemed so thrilled to see us together, and then out of nowhere- I mean, how could we anticipate a thing like that?" I say.

"You couldn't Peeta. As you say, now one could've. But I have to confess, I'm glad you two had at least a few months of happiness together." says Caesar. Somehow, Caesar made all this positive.

"I'm not glad. I wish we had waited until the whole thing was done officially." I say.

"Surely even a brief time is better than no time?" says Caesar.

I cross my arms. "Maybe I'd think that, too, Caesar," I say. "If it weren't for the baby."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The audience goes into panic, just like I wanted. They think Katniss is pregnant, and going into The Hunger Games. The Capitol might start a riot, and the Games could be cancelled. I nod goodbye to the crowd once my time is up.

I start crying just thinking about someone going into the Games pregnant. And now, I understand why Katniss doesn't want kids. The anthem blasts through the building. Katniss stands and I take her hand.

Then Katniss turns to Chaff and holds onto his bad arm, as if she was holding his hand. Then, every victor joins hands, and the screen goes blank. The whole stage goes into panic, but I manage to keep my grip on Katniss's hand, and guide her back to the elevators.

When we step off the elevators, I grab Katniss's shoulders. "There isn't much time, so tell me. Is there anything I have to apologize for?" I ask remembering how mad Katniss was when I announced my love for her last year, and telling everyone that we're married and she is pregnant is a lot worse.

"Nothing," says Katniss.

The elevator doors open and only Haymitch steps out. "It's madness out there. Everyone's been sent home and they've canceled the recap of the interviews on television." he says.

Katniss and I both go to the window, on the streets, there's a bunch of Capitol citizens protesting the Games, I think. "What are they saying? Are they asking the President to stop the Games?" I ask.

"I don't think they know themselves what to ask. The whole situation is unpredicted. Even the idea of opposing the Capitol's agenda in a source of confusion for the people here," says Haymitch. "But there's no way Snow would cancel the Games. You know that, right?"

"The others went home?" Katniss asks.

"They were ordered to. I don't know how much luck they're having getting through the mob," says Hamitch.

This means I'll never see Effie again. And I'll never get my gold to show I'm in this team. I won't get my one way to convince Katniss's she's the one who needs to win.

"Then we'll never see Effie again," I say. "You'll give her our thanks."

Katniss lets out a breath. "More than that. Really make is special. It's Effie, after all. Tell her how appreciative we are and how she was the best escort ever and tell her... tell her we send our love." says Katniss.

Haymitch looks at both of us. "I guess this is where we say our goodbyes as well." he says.

I frown. "Any last words of advice?"

Haymitch pauses. "Stay alive?" he says, like when we first met him last year. "Go to bed. You need your rest."

I blink. "You take care, Haymitch," I say imagining what he'd become with a lot of his victor friends dead.

Katniss and I go to leave the room. "Katniss," says Haymitch. "When you're in the arena," he pauses.

"What?" asks Katniss.

"You just remember who the enemy is." he says. "That's all. No go on. Get out of here."

We walk down the hallway. I want to stop by the room to take a shower, then go to Katniss's, but, she insists that if there's a door between us, it'll lock, and that I can just take a shower in her room.

We don't get much sleep that night, because our minds won't shut off.

Cinna and Portia come to wake us, I give Katniss a kiss. "See you soon." I say.

"See you soon," she says.

Portia takes me to the roof, and we board the hovercraft. A doctor inserts a tracker into my arm. And soon we're on the Launch Pad. Portia dresses me in a blue jump suit, a purple belt, and some purple shoes. Then Portia hands me a locket.

"From Effie, we got it approved for the Games," says Portia. I look inside to make sure the pictures are in. "It's even water proof."

"Thanks," I say.

I step into the Launch Pad, the cylinder closes around me, and within moments, I'm being lifted into the arena.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

When my plate finishes rising, I open my eyes, and I'm pretty surprised at what I see. Water surrounds us. In the middle of all of us, in the Cornucopia, and around it, are the stripes of land, between each bit of land, a pair of tributes.

There's no way to get to the Cornucopia, except to swim, and I don't know how to do that. Why should I? I'm from District Twelve, there isn't any water to swim in there. Katniss won't know how to swim either. There are a few options for me, I could drowned, starve to death on the platform, or, I could wait for someone to kill me.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the seventy-fifth Hunger Games begin!" says Claudius Templesmith, the Hunger Games announcer.

The gong sounds, and many tributes dive right into the water, some stay on their plates, probably unable to swim, too.

I watch the action at the Cornucopia. Then, I see Finnick and Katniss at the Cornucopia, right in front of me. Finnick and Katniss both have their preferred weapons. Katniss must have learned how to swim before, or maybe Finnick helped her. Finnick starts swimming toward me, and Katniss waits at the Cornucopia.

"Get in the water!" Finnick shouts. "I won't let you drowned."

I look down, and he's next to me. I take a deep breath, and quickly get into the water. Finnick grabs me and pulls me to where Katniss stands. When we reach the sand, Katniss helps me.

"Hello, again." I say and give her a kiss. "We've got allies!" I say, wondering how Finnick of all people ended up as our ally.

"Yes. Just as Haymitch intended." says Katniss.

"Remind me, did we make deals with anyone else?" I ask.

"Only Mags, I think," she says nodding her head toward Mags, who is swimming toward us.

"Well," says Finnick. "I can't leave Mags behind. She's only one of the few people who actually likes me."

"I've got no problem with Mags. Especially now that I see this arena. Her fish hooks are probably our best chance of getting a meal." says Katniss.

"Katniss wanted her on the first day," I say.

Finnick smiles. "Katniss has remarkably good judgment," he says, then helps Mags out of the water.

She says something, but I don't understand. "Look," says Finnick. "She's right. Someone figured it out." Finnick points to Beetee who's staying afloat.

"What?" Katniss asks.

"The belts." says Finnick. "They're floatation devices. I mean, you have to propel yourself, but they'll keep you from drowning." Finnick carries Mags on his shoulder, while we run away from the Cornucopia.

We enter the jungle. I take the lead, and cut through the plants with a knife from the Cornucopia. When we break, Katniss climbs a tree to see more of the arena. When Katniss gets down, she looks disgusted.

"What's going on down there, Katniss?" Finnick asks. "Have they all joined hands? Taken a vow of nonviolence? Tossed the weapons into the sea in defiance of the Capitol."

Katniss glares at him. "No,"

"No." he says. "Because whatever happened in the past is the past. And no one in this arena was victor my chance." he pauses, and I can feel his eyes on me. "Except maybe Peeta."

I realize their about to send weapons into each other, so I step between them. "So how many are dead?" I ask.

Katniss sighs. "Hard to say. At least six, I think. And they're still fighting."

"Let's keep moving. We need water." I say.

"Better find some soon. We need to be undercover when the others come hunting us tonight." says Finnick.

And we keep moving, that is until I knock into the force field.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I lay for a moment, not wanting to open my eyes. Where am I? I ask myself. In the arena? Someone flings themselves at me. "Peeta?" asks Katniss softly. I'm in the arena. She pushes my hair back, and I force my eyes open. My eyes are immediately greeted with Katniss's silver, damp eyes.

"Careful," I say. "There's a force field up ahead." Katniss laughs but tears start streaming down her face. "Must be a lot stronger than the one on the Training Center roof," I say. "I'm alright, though. Just a little shaken."

Her eyes widen. "You were dead! You're heart stopped!" she shouts, then covers her mouth wile she makes choking sounds, trying to hold in her sobbing.

"Well, it seems to be working now," I say, but she doesn't calm down. "It's all right, Katniss." She nods but still wont stop, and now, I'm wondering if she's actually choking. "Katniss?"

"It's okay. It's just her hormones," says Finnick. I look at him. "From the baby."

That's right, she has to pretend she's pregnant.

"No. It's not-" says Katniss before she's cut off by more sobbing. And honestly, I'm sure she just convinced even some people in District Twelve that she's pregnant.

"How are you?" Finnick asks me. "Do you think you can move on?"

I nod.

"No, he has to rest," says Katniss, then she blows her nose in some moss. Katniss grabs my locket. "Is this your token?" she asks.

"Yes. Do you mind that I used you mockingjay? I wanted us to match," I say.

"No, of course I don't mind." she says.

"So you want to make camp here, then?" Finnick asks.

I shake my head. "I don't think that's an option. Staying here. With no water. No protection. I feel alright, really. If we could just go slowly." I say.

Finnick nods. "Slowly would be better than not at all." he says, and helps me up.

"I'll take the lead," says Katniss.

"You can't-" I start to object but Finnick cuts me off.

"No let her do it." he says. I frown, why would Finnick risk Katniss running into the force field? "You knew that force field was there, didn't you? Right at the last second? You started to give a warning." Katniss nods. "How did you know." he asks.

Katniss hesitates. "I don't know. It's almost as if I can hear it. Listen." she says.

I try to listen, but don't hear it. "I don't hear anything," I say.

"Yes," Katniss insists. "It's like when the fence around District Twelve is on, only much, much quieter." she says.

We listen again but still don't hear anything. "I don't hear it either." says Finnick. "But if you do, by all means, take the lead."

"That's wired," says Katniss turning her head from side to side. "I can only hear it out of my left ear."

Her left ear? Last year in the Games, she injured that ear, she couldn't hear out of that ear for the rest of the Games.

"The one the doctors reconstructed?" I ask.

"Yeah," Katniss says shrugging. "Maybe they did a better job than they thought. You know, sometimes I do hear funny things on that side. Things you wouldn't ordinarily think have a sound. Like insect wings. Or snow hitting the ground." she says. I smile.

Mags nudges Katniss forward, encouraging her to take the lead. Mags is walking with the heap of the branch Finnick made into a cane. And he convinces me that I need a staff. I take it, because, I really do need all the help I can get, walking right now.

Katniss throws some nuts at the force field. And Mags eats one. Katniss yells at her, because they could be poisonous, but Mags ignores her and eats it anyway. Then, Finnick laughs, insisting that we'll find out if they are or not later. After a while, Katniss insists we take a break, and she climbs a tree to see the arena again.

Katniss tells us the force field is shaped like a dome. And that there isn't any water. We keep moving, but soon we have to stop. Finnick picks a campsite. Katniss insists, after a while, that she'll hunt for water by herself. She promises me she won't go far. Katniss goes off and the cannons start blasting through the arena. The bloodbath is finally over. Eight cannons go off. Each cannon represents a dead tribute. Finnick and Mags create huts, and bowls, I fill them with nuts that I roast using the force field.

By the time Katniss gets back, we're all hoping she found some water. She was gone a long time. Katniss tells us that she didn't find water, but the animal she killed did. And so there's water out there somewhere. We decide the animal is okay to eat. We can't start a fire because the arena is so small, and we wouldn't be able to hide the smoke. So I toss some of the meat at the force field and it comes out, cooked perfectly.

The sun sets while we eat the animal, which we decided to call a tree rat. Then the seal of the Capitol appears and the anthem plays.

Then a silver parachute falls from the sky. Inside, is a small object, and none of us know what it is, but we all take our guesses. I blow through one end of it, to see if it makes a sound. Finnick puts his pinky in it to see if it's a weapon. Katniss asks Mags if she can fish with it, but she can't. Katniss stairs at it, clearly becoming frustrated with it. She gives up shoving one end into the dirt.

She lays down, and I rub her shoulders, trying to get her to relax. "A spile!" Katniss says.

"What?" asks Finnick.

Katniss jumps up and takes the thing out of the dirt. You put a spile into a tree and sap comes out. We explain to Finnick. And we put it into a tree. Water eventually comes out. We all take turns holding our mouths over it. And we lay down. Finnick takes the first watch. So I let myself fall asleep.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"Run!" I hear Katniss scream in pain. My eyes shoot open. "Run!" I stand up, not sure what we are running from. Everyone else is up, Finnick is actually already running with Mags on his back. There is a fog approaching us. Katniss grabs me and pulls me through the jungle, away from the fog. I look at her and notice the blisters on her skin.

"What is it? What is it?" I ask.

"Some kind of fog. Poisonous gas. Hurry, Peeta!" she shouts. So I do my best to keep moving. "Watch my feet. Just step where I step." she says.

Some drops of fog find their way onto our skin. I trip and can't get up. I try to tell Katniss to run, but I can't she pulls me up. I try to move, but I'm no longer in control of my body. Finnick lifts me and carries me. Katniss falls and I realize she was carrying Mags. Katniss tries to get up, but can't. Mags gets off her and Katniss manages to stand up. Mags ends up sacrificing herself to the fog, and Finnick keeps moving. I don't hear another cannon, so I guess Katniss is following.

"It's stopped," says Katniss after a while. "It's stopped."

I look off Finnick's back. And we all lay there, staring at the sky. I notice some monkeys watching us from the trees, so I point them out to everyone. I've never seen one in person. I get onto my knees and crawl to the ocean. The salt in the water will get the poison out. The others are crawling behind me. I slowly soak my body, limb by limb, until I can function again. When I get out of the water, Katniss is already pouring water onto Finnick, I guess Finnick didn't want to do it himself. I help Katniss soak Finnick, while fog comes out of his skin. Finnick is eventually soaked from the neck down. I tell him he'll feel better once he soaked his face.

"I'm going to try to tap a tree," says Katniss removing the spile from her belt.

"Let me make the hole first," I say. "You stay with him. You're the healer." I say then make my way to a tree. I've just about finished the hole when Katniss speaks again.

"Peeta. I need you're help with something." she says.

I dig into the tree quicker. "Okay just a minute. I think I've just about got it," I say. I finally get a big enough hole. "Yes, there. Have you got the spile?" I ask.

"I do. But we've found something you'd better take a look at," she says. "Only move towards us quietly, so you don't startle it." I turn to head toward Katniss and Finnick, I walk carefully, but still make noise. "Okay." I say. Katniss has her bow armed, and Finnick holds his trident in a defensive position. And then it's like I can feel thousands of eyes watching my every move. I glance up.

And then the monkeys start to attack. Eventually, Finnick, Katniss, and I find ourselves in a triangle, a few yards apart from each other. My only defence against the monkeys is my knife. "Peeta!" Katniss shouts. "You're arrows!" I remember Katniss gave me her extra sheath from the Cornucopia, because she couldn't carry both. I work to get the sheath off to give to Katniss when the morphling girl from District Six stands in front of me, as a monkeys sinks it's fangs into her chest. And I realize that if she wasn't there, at that exact moment, that monkey's fangs would be buried into my chest. She saved my life.

I drop Katniss's sheath and stab the monkey and kick it away from her. "Come on then! Come on!" I shout at the monkeys, but they start backing away, into the jungle. I stand their panting.

"Get her. We'll cover you." Katniss says.

I pick up the morphling and carry her a few yards away from the beach. I lay her in the sand. Katniss cuts the material away from where the monkey bit her. The wound doesn't look bad, but the ways she's gasping for air, and where the wound is, I can tell the monkey injured some vital organ. Katniss grabs her hand.

"I'll watch the trees," says Finnick.

I crouch beside the morphling. It really upsets me that I never cared enough to remember her name. And I'll never know. But I want to comfort her, like Katniss did for Rue.

"With my paint box at home, I can make every color imaginable. Pink. As pale as a baby's skin, or as deep as rhubarb. Green like spring grass. Blue that shimmers like ice on water." I say, she seems to calm down a bit, so I continue. "One time, I spent three days mixing paint until I found the right shade for sunlight on white fur. You see, I kept thinking it was yellow, but it was much more than that. Layers of all sorts of color. One by one." The morphling reaches her hand to the blood from her wound, and she paints the blood onto her skin.

"I haven't figured out a rainbow yet. They come so quickly and leave so soon. I never have enough time to capture them. Just a bit of blue here or purple there. And they fade away again. Back into the air." I say. The morphling reaches her hand up and paints something on my cheek with her blood. "Thank you. That looks beautiful." I whisper. The morphling girl smiles then her hand falls to her chest and she lets out one last puff of air.

I carry her out to the water, then sit next to Katniss. The morphling floats toward the Cornucopia until a hovercraft comes to pick her up. I don't pay attention to what anyone says for the rest of the flight. And one sentence plays again and again in my mind. It should've been me.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Someone shakes me awake. I lay with my eyes closed, wishing to enjoy a few more moments, before I have to get up. "Peeta." says Katniss, in a singsong voice. "Peeta, wake up." I open my eyes. Before me, are Katniss and Finnick. But they look like some mutt version of them. With skin that's a grey-green color, like their decomposing.

So I shout and jump away from them, causing both Finnick and Katniss to fall back onto the sand, laughing, and I guess they aren't mutts. Whenever they manage to stop laughing, all they have to do is look at me to set them off again. But really, they should see themselves.

A parachute lands next to us, once they both stop laughing, and we've got bread from District Four. Finnick turns the bread around in his hands. "This will go well with the shellfish." he says.

Finnick cleans the shellfish meat, while Katniss helps me coat myself in some ointment, which has died Katniss and Finnick's skin, but it helps with the itching scabs left from the fog.

A gigantic wave comes over the jungle and falls into the existing ocean water, and with so much force, that the water rises to our knees and carries our few possessions with it, but all three of us manage to gather them before they're carried too far away. A cannon fires, and a hovercraft shows up, right where the wave began, and picks up the body.

"There," Katniss says nodding in the direction of three tributes, on the beach, coming our way. We walk quietly to the jungle, and prepare ourselves to attack if we have to.

One is dragging the other, and the third figure is walking around in circles. They appear to be red, like they're covered in blood.

"Who is that?" I ask. "Or what? Muttations?"

The one being dragged along collapses onto the beach, and the one who was dragging the other, pushes the one walking in circles, in frustration.

"Johanna!" Finnick calls out.

"Finnick!" Johanna's voice calls.

And Finnick runs to them. Katniss looks at me. "What now?" she asks, and I get the feeling Katniss doesn't like Johanna.

"We can't really leave Finnick," I say. Because he would hunt us down, probably with Johanna.

"Guess not. Come on, then," she says and we walk to them. When we get closer, Katniss looks confused. "She's got Wiress and Beetee." she says.

I remember Johanna making fun of them at Training. "Nuts and Volts? I've got to hear how this happened." I say.

Now, we can hear Johanna talking to Finnick. "We thought it was rain, you know, because of the lighting, and we were all so thirsty. But when it started coming down, it turned out to be blood. Thick, hot blood. You couldn't see, you couldn't speak without getting a mouthful. We just staggered around, trying to get out of it. That's when Blight hit the force field." says Johanna. Finnick tells Johanna he's sorry about Blight. "Yeah, well, he wasn't much, but he was from home." she says. "And he left me alone with these two." She Beetee with her shoe. "He got a knife in the back at the Cornucopia. And her-"

We look at Wiress, who's circling the beach saying, "Tick, tock. Tick, tock." I run my fingers through the air and look back at Johanna.

"Yeah, we know. Tick, tock. Nuts is in shock," she says, and Wiress approaches her, and Johanna shoves her to the ground. "Just stay down, will you?"

"Lay off her." says Katniss.

Johanna turns toward Katniss. "Lay off her?" Johanna hisses. Then she steps forward and slaps Katniss. "Who do you think got them out of that bleeding jungle for you? You-"

Finnick tosses Johanna over his shoulder then repeatedly dunks her into the water, while she screams insults at Katniss.

"What did she mean? She got them for me?" Katniss asks.

"I don't know. You did want them originally," I remind her.

Katniss nods. "Yeah, I did. Originally. But I won't have them unless we do something." she says. So I lift Beetee up, Katniss takes Wirress's hand and sets her in the water, then she helps me clean up. We end up having to take off Beetee's cloths, we lay him on his stomach and examine his back.

Katniss gets some of the same kind of moss that she blew her nose into, after I ran into the force field. She puts it onto his back and ties vines around him to secure the moss.

"I think that's all we can do," she says.

"It's good. You're good with this healing stuff," I say. "It's in your blood."

Katniss shakes her head. "No. I got my father's blood." she stands up. "I'm going to see about Wiress." Katniss cleans Wiress off.

We meet up and Katniss and Johanna stay watch. After, who knows how long, Katniss is shaking me awake, and ordering everyone up. Then Katniss tells everyone how the arena is like a clock, and every hour, a new threat appears in a section of the arena. And that we have to move because the monkeys will come back.

One Wiress wakes up, she seems relived someone figured out what she was saying. Tick, tock. We get ready to move, I lift Beetee, but he objects. "Wire." he says.

He means Wiress. I tell myself. "Wiress is fine. She's coming, too." I say.

He struggles some more. "Wire,"

Johanna remembers that he's been carrying a wire, and that's how he got cut, running to get it at the Cornucopia. I tell them that he won the Games, electrifying everyone in the arena with a trap made out of wire. Then Johanna and Katniss start accusing each other, and Katniss reaches for her knife. Finnick stops both of them.

We go to the Cornucopia. I give Beetee's wire to Wiress and ask her to clean it. She goes to the water and starts singing a song, that annoys Johanna. Then we talk about how Wiress was smart to figure out the arena was a clock. Beetee tells us that she can sense things before anyone else, like a canary in the coal mines.

I draw a map of the arena onto a leaf. Katniss turns around and shoots an arrow in Wiress's direction. I turn around and see Wiress and Gloss dead. Johanna throws her axe into Cashmere, and Enobaria stabs Finnick. Three cannons fire, and Brutus and Enobaria run back toward the jungle.

The ground jerks, and suddenly, the Cornucopia starts spinning.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

I hold on as the Cornucopia spins. I end up closing my eyes until it stops. Finnick, Johanna, and Katniss hung on. "Where's Volts?" asks Johanna. We all stand up and find him in the water, barely staying above the waves, Finnick swims out to get him.

Katniss's eyes widen. "Cover me," she says and races down a strip of sand, hear Wiress. She dives into the water as a hovercraft appears over Wiress. Katniss swims to her and takes something from her then swims back to us as the hovercraft lifts Wiress. Katniss gives the wire, she must have retrieved from Wiress, to Beetee. Then, she wraps her arms around me.

"Let's get off this stinking island," says Johanna.

We try to figure out where to go, but we end up arguing and choose a random path. I look into the jungle. "Well, it must be monkey hour. And I don't see any of them in there. I'm going to try to tap a tree." I say.

"No, it's my turn." says Finnick.

I sigh. "I'll at least watch your back." I say.

"Katniss can do that. We need you to make another map. The other washed away," says Johanna, and hands me a leaf. I frown and start on the map.

After a while I hear someones scream, coming from the direction Finnick and Katniss left in. It's a familiar scream, I think it's Prim's. I stand up and run to the jungle, Johanna and Beetee follow. I smack into a wall.

"It's a invisible wall, you can't get through it," says Beetee.

I frown, and press my hands to the wall. "Prim's in their," I say.

Beetee shakes his head. "No. I think they put JabberJays in there, they're messing with Katniss." he says.

Minutes later, I see Katniss and Finnick running our way, I try to warn them about the wall, but I guess they can't hear me, because they smack right into the wall. Finnick's nose starts bleeding.

Katniss's eyes are wide, and she looks scared, she places her hand on the wall, to meet mine, while I try to comfort her. Beetee's theory is proved when birds start to gather in the branches of trees near Finnick and Katniss. Finnick covers his ears with his hands. Katniss shoots at the birds, but others replace them right after, so she ends up in the same position as Finnick.

The wall comes down, Johanna shoves Finnick, and he stands. I lift Katniss, her eyes are closed and her hands still cover her ears. I put her in my lap and try to calm her down. We all convince Katniss and Finnick that they were just JabberJays, and their loved ones aren't actually screaming. Apparently, they used Annie Cresta against Finnick. She's a victor from his district, who went insane after he district partner was beheaded. Mags volunteered for her at the Reaping.

A cannon blasts, and a hovercraft comes to pick up the pieces of a tribute. The claw comes down five times, this tribute must have been shredded. I draw the new map, and be sure to put that section in. Bread from District Three appears, and we split the rolls. Katniss and I volunteer to take watch first.

Once everyone is asleep, I speak. "Katniss, it's no use pretending we don't know what the other is trying to do." Katniss frowns. "I don't know what kind of deal you think you've made with Haymitch, but you should know he made me promises as well." Katniss looks up. "So I think we can assume he was lying to one of us." I say.

Katniss looks at my eyes. "Why are you saying this now?" she asks.

"Because I don't want you forgetting how different our circumstances are. If you die, and I live, there's no life for me back in District Twelve. You're my whole life. I would never be happy again." I say, and she starts to object. I put my finger to her lips, to quit her. "It's a different for you. I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard. But there are other people who'd make your life worth living." I say.

Katniss lets out a shocked breath as she sees the pictures. On one side, Iris and Prim, and the other side holds a picture of Gale. "Your family needs you, Katniss." I say, then let out my feelings about myself since the last arena. "No one really needs me."

Katniss blinks a few times. "I do." she says, and I look into her eyes. "I need you." Then we kiss. And I really do wish we could've had more time to live. So I could be with her.

The lightnings starts, and we break apart. Finnick wakes up to stand guard with me, and I tell Katniss to go to bed. "You're going to make a great mother, you know." I say, kiss her and sit down next to Finnick.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Johanna wakes up to take my place, taking watch with Finnick. So I try to get some rest. When I wake again, everyone but Katniss is awake, they are watching a parachute land on the beach. Katniss joins us. Theirs bread inside. Johanna goes to sleep.

Katniss tries to convince me we should leave the alliance, but we end up staying, because Beetee said he had a plan to kill the others. Finnick wakes up Johanna, so she can hear. Beetee draws a sketch in the sand, of the arena.

"If you were Brutus and Enobaria, knowing what you do now about the jungle, where would you feel the safest?" asks Beetee.

"Where are we now. On the beach. It's the safest place." I say.

"So why aren't they on the beach?" Beetee asks.

"Because we're here," says Johanna.

"Exactly. We're here, claiming the beach. Now where would you go?" asks Beetee.

"I'd hide just at the end of the jungle. So I could escape if an attack came. And so I could spy on us." says Katniss.

"Also to eat. The jungle's full of strange creatures and plants. But by watching us, I'd know the seafood's safe." says Finnick.

Beetee smiles. "Yes, good. You do see. Now here's what I propose; a twelve o'clock strike. What happens exactly at noon and at midnight?" he asks.

"The lightning bolt hits the tree," says Katniss.

"Yes. So what I'm suggesting is that after the bolt hits at noon, but before it hits at midnight, we run my wire from that tree all the way down into the saltwater, which is, of course, highly conductive. When the bolt strickes, the electricity will travel down the wire and into not only the water but also the surrounding beach, which will still be damp from the ten o'clock wave. Anyone in contact with those surfaces at that moment will be electrified." says Beetee.

"Will that wire really be able to conduct that much power, Beetee?" I ask. "It looks so fragile, like it would just burn up."

Beetee nods. "Oh it will. But not until the current has passed through it. It will act something like a fuse, in fact. Except the electricity will travel along it," he says.

"How do you know?" asks Johanna.

"Because I invented it." he says. "It's not actually wire in the actual sense. Nor is the lightning natural lightning nor the tree a real tree, you know trees better than any of us, Johanna. It would be destroyed by now, wouldn't it?"

Johanna looks away. "Yes," she frowns.

"Don't worry about the wire- it will do just what I say," Beetee says.

"And where will be when this happens?" Finnick asks.

"Far enough up in the jungle to be safe," Beetee says.

We agree to do it after talking more about it. Beetee wants to inspect the tree. After a while, Finnick suggests that Katniss takes the lead. "Katniss can hear the force field," he tells Beetee and Johanna.

"Hear it?" Beetee asks.

Katniss smiles. "Only with the ear the Capitol reconstructed," she says.

Beetee smiles back. "Then by all means, let Katniss go first. Force fields are nothing to play around with."

Katniss gets three rats, and I gather nuts. The Katniss and I roast them using the force field. Beetee throws a piece of bark from the lightning tree at the force field. It glows for a moment. "Well, that explains a lot," he says. Katniss looks at me then bites her lip, to stop herself from laughing at him.

We go back to the beach. Beetee gives us the afternoon off while he works with the wire. Finnick has us gather sea food. And then we clean the meat. I open a oyster and find a pearl.

I laugh, remembering something Effie once said. "Hey, look at this!" I say holding the pearl up. "You know, if you put enough pressure on coal it turns to pearls," I say looking into Finnick's eyes.

"No, it doesn't," he says.

Katniss laughs. I rinse the pearl off and hand it to her. "For you." I say.

Katniss takes it. "Thanks,"

I stare into Katniss's eyes. She looks like she's excepting death. "The locket didn't work, did it?" I ask. She doesn't look at me. "Katniss?" I ask.

"It worked." she says.

"But not the way I wanted it to," I say.

More bread is delivered. Beetee starts to set up the wire. The wave begins. We put the wire out along the beach. Katniss and Johanna are supposed to run the wire through the arena. But now that I know Katniss still wants me to live, I don't want her out of my sights. Or else my worst nightmares, the ones about losing Katniss, could come true. "I want to go with them as a guard," I say.

"You're too slow. Besides, I'll need you on this end. Katniss will guard. There's no time to debate this. I'm sorry. If the girls are to get out of there, alive, they need to go now." says Beetee, handing the coil to Johanna.

"It's okay. We'll just drop the coil and come straight back up." says Katniss.

I frown. I don't want them to separate us, but they have to go now if they're going to make it out. Beetee tells Katniss and Johanna the path to take. Katniss grabs my face.

"Don't worry. I'll see you at midnight." she says and gives me a kiss. She turns to Johanna. "Ready?"

Johanna sighs. "Why not?" she says with a shrug. "You guard, I'll unwind. We can trade off later." Then they walk into the jungle.

Once Beetee sets everything up, we move into the jungle. Finnick wanders off, and I take Beetee to the lightning tree. He adjusts the wire for a few moments, and then it snaps. Someone cut the wire. I run to the two o'clock sector and find Chaff, Brutus runs out of the jungle and stabs him. His cannon goes off.

Brutus looks up at me and smirks. "You know, I ran into you're friend, Katniss, earlier. I'll do you a favor, so you don't have to live without her."

My eyes widen, Brutus killed Katniss! I reach for my belt, holding my knife. It's gone. Beetee must have it. I grab my spare knife, slowly. Regret fills me, if I had left earlier today, when Katniss said, I may not be about to kill Brutus. I stab my knife into Brutus's chest, and scream Katniss's name.

"Peeta!" Katniss screams, I realize Brutus couldn't have killed Katniss, because a cannon didn't go off, but I can hear the pain in her voice. "Peeta! I'm here! Peeta!" It sounds like her voice is coming from the lightning tree. I start running toward her. I could make it. "Peeta!" she screams. Brutus's cannon goes off. I've officially killed someone. The tributes from District Eight, of Five, from the last arena don't count like this.

I call for Katniss again, still running. I reach the tree, and just for a moment, I see Katniss aiming her arrow at the sky, with wire wrapped around it. She lets the arrow fly, and I watch her hair stand up as the lightning hits the tree. And I'm thrown onto the ground. "No," I whisper, right as the explosions begin. "I lost her."


End file.
